Significant Other

This was a survivalist type sci-fi that was well shot, directed and acted. All casting and performances were on point. The story had a few nice twists, but nothing revolutionary or jaw-dropping. It was well shot with great cinematography and a decent score. Even at a mere 84 min runtime and fairly decent pacing, it still felt longer due to the lack of any constant suspenseful narrative. It did have its moments of intrigue and suspense, but those were too few and far in between the basic camping survivalist theme. Nevertheless, it's a decent genre crossing film that's a decent one-time watch by a relatively newb co-writer and co-directing duo.

I'm seeing a lot of negative reviews from critics calling it a "waste of time", and audience reviews of 3/5 stars. But remember, people tend to dislike things that are different. And this film is definitely different.

As a Shudder user, I see SO many 1 star reviews of films that I LOVE, saying that they're "boring" or "not horror movies" (it got so frustrating, I stopped reading them). I've come to the conclusion that the average mainstream-movie watching person only defines a "horror movie" as one with a monster/demon/ghost/psycho killer, 90 minutes of interchangeable jump scares (usually of the antagonist appearing BEHIND the characters where only the audience can see), and a high body count.

So brilliant films like Garland's Annihilation, Strickland's In Fabric, Benson & Moorhead's Resolution, or in this case, Olsen & Berk's Significant Other, get passed up because they aren't understood, and therefore raves about, by the casual movie-going, mainstream majority.

I loved this film because it had all of the criteria you'd hope for in the ever-evolving horror genre... tension, suspense, atmosphere, a fitting score, and even a twist you don't see coming. Just because there aren't gory kill scenes every 7-10 minutes by some grotesque creature does NOT disqualify a film from being classified as horror.

So if you truly appreciate horror as an artistic form of film art, something that can make you feel unease and suspense while making you think, then give this a shot and form your own opinion. Fans of horror films like Pontypool, Braid, Hereditary, Come True, or any of the aforementioned films will definitely love and appreciate this one.

It embraces an eerie and enigmatic tone that subsequently gets turned on its head, First half drags a bit but there's a neat twist about halfway through and then you're in for a hell of a ride until the final credits. Its a great movie , especially the ending, i mean you rarely see an ending like this in movies these days that makes so much sense. The lead performances were more than acceptable, Maika Monroe is very convincing and fits well into her role. There are many twists that made me re-watch a few scenes over and over again. Good cinematography for such a low budget movie. Significant Other delivers tense and entertaining moments, that are direct and to the point.

Ruth and Harry venture into the woods for a bit of a ramble, although if they knew what was ahead I'm sure they wouldn't have taken such a gamble, especially as Ruth has some serious anxiety that she struggles to overcome, and often relies on pills to stop the depth of her despairing, downward plumb, all brought about because of a traumatic childhood, that to this day leaves her confused and misunderstood, as she knows that people can change, their emotions and personalities can range, one minute this, the next minute that, sometimes calm and caring, the next getting ready for combat and overbearing. Suffice to say the lovers walk on the wild side reveals more about themselves than they could ever have imagined.

I don't know why Horror's not included in the "Genres" list; I would call this more horror with sci-fi elements than the other way around.

Trying to think of what other films of which this one reminded me, and the closest I could come up with was Under the Skin. While not as creepy and much more overtly explained than that 2013 Scarlett Johansson film, I found definite similarities. To elaborate more on this would be bordering even more on spoiler territory; suffice to say that this film's title is quite the double entendre.

I'm liking Maika Monroe more each time I see her, and she does not disappoint here.

As a horror enthusiast, I find the present rating of 5.7 for this film far lower than it merits. I found it far superior to the recent Hellraiser reboot and, unlike that film, look forward to watching this one again.