The Unfamiliar

Premise starts nicely. Woman returns from a war zone performing as a doctor. Then she starts seeing things that aren't there. And it isn't PTSD. So at this early mark in the film, all energy and spookiness leaves. What is left is a tired retread of of standard elements of a haunting. And by standard I mean stock elements simply presented one after the other to piece together the plotline, plodding its way to the inevitable end. Right down to the standard stock trope of an end. It felt like after the 15 minute mark, once the plot had been established, all effort ended with the script to do anything with itself. It could have been a silent film without any notation, and I would have still understood the plot line and resolution. That says something. The film was made adequately, and the acting is decent. Just nothing in the script to create any tension or scares.

One of the best horror movies in 25 years. I've always loved slow dull horror cinema... But this one just took everything to the next level! Great acting, accompanied with fantastic script, superb cinematography and spine chilling background score. How much can be accomplished without showing even minimum gore in the horror genre, The Unfamiliar is the testament to that.

Had potential with a couple good creepy spots but not one good jump scare & honestly the very end was EXTREAMLY predictable! I rate this as Junk with potential!

Now we could argue that the theme of the movie is so overused that there is no point in expecting anything truly great, yet, if you look at superhero movies you will find some, like The Dark Knight that make everything just right, and I really want to start this review, basing what I am going to say upon it.

Yes, The Unfamiliar is not original, it has however a better, somewhat of a The Others vibe to it, managed to trick me into thinking something else entirely and for that, well my hat is off. The problem here is the fact that it reveals itself too early and tries and manages to offer a lot of action in the third act, but it felt unnatural and even bored me at times. The ending itself is a bit too out there, but not a deal breaker, but a worthy conclusion I guess, and that is about all I can say without revealing anything that will spoil the action for others.

There are pluses, good actors/characters, good tension built in the beginning, some nice reveals, good offtrack throws, but they didn't really bring anything new, they simply did their job right but in the same way others done it before them. The people involved in the production of The Unfamiliar needed someone with more guts, that would have had the courage to go further and blend in some new elements here. All in all a good production, but still, nothing you haven't seen before.

I do recommend it, it should be viewed by horror fans, goes down great with junk food and beverages and in the end, it will probably be soon forgotten.

Cheers!

If you need to fall asleep at night! No thrills in this dull performance bore fest knock off.