London House

I kept waiting for a twist, or SOMETHING to keep my interest, but it never came. "Gas Light" for a first time mom. The best thing about it was Gene Pitney singing "Take Me Tonight" at the end. Why this song? That was the only unpredictable thing in the entire movie. And the ending was crazy and totally illogical.

I'm a big fan of cult classics such as Rosemary's Baby so when I saw the trailer to this movie, I was intrigued.

The first third of the movie was quite well done; the mood was creepy and weird as intended, the actors were marvelous; the suspense really drew me in and I wanted to find out how this movie would pan out.

Then it got reeeeeally slow. It dragged on and the repetitiveness made it very hard to push through. Midway through, the mystery of the plot has already become quite obvious and predictable as it has been constantly spelled out to us over and over again. So by the end, the only way to save this movie is for an unexpected twist instead of the predictable ending. But no twist. Just a creepy, linear story with ok acting.

In 2016, a British thriller entitled The Ones Below was released, though it originally first screened at the Toronto Film Festival the previous year. While it did sweep under the radar, there is a good chance that this film will go on to be a cult classic in the near future. As for what I think, while it did leave me horrified the first time watching it, I will admit that it isn't without its flaws. That being said, what does make the film intriguing to watch is how it tackles the frustrating anxieties of early motherhood, and subverts these themes with paranoia.

The film revolves around a married couple named Kate and Justin who have recently had a baby. However, when new neighbors named Theresa and Jon have moved into the flat beneath theirs, tensions begin to rise with their friendship regarding said newborn. Writer/director David Farr succeeds very well at showcasing the hormones and emotions of a mother during a time like this. Although if you may be ecstatic that you've made a human being of your own, it doesn't necessarily mean you automatically know what you're doing in a situation where your life could be at risk. In addition, given Kate and Theresa's friendship, Farr manages to make even the simplest conversations feel innocent albeit awkward and unsettling.

With two suspicious neighbors comes idiosyncratic character traits, and compared to the more seemingly light hearted Theresa, Jon is more abrupt, making Kate and Justin's interactions with them become all the more disturbing. In fact, after the baby Billy is born, odd occurrences and disturbing noises keep on arising, which nearly drive the couple nuts: from car honks, to muffled baby monitor sounds, to even a cat slinking underfoot. With tense moments like these, there are definite comparisons to be made with Rosemary's Baby, let alone by the subject matter and the lean and brisk tone. Not to mention, it's great to see a horror movie nowadays without a single jump scare, or even gore for that matter; nice change in age.

In terms of negatives, while the twist is very well structured and horrifying, the climax does drag on at points to get there, and after a while it does become a little too obvious what the outcome will be. Also, even during the film's second act, Theresa and Jon's intent becomes pretty obvious if not inevitable, and even with all the stakes that occur, the narrative really starts to reveal how straightforward it really is. Nonetheless, I still recommend The Ones Below for its unsettling atmosphere, subversive mix of parenthood and paranoia, and its traumatic twist that will give you trust issues for the rest of your life. The truth is that there are plenty of people out there who will end up causing you suffering for the sickest of reasons, and this film understands just how risky raising a child can really be.

'THE ONES BELOW': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A British thriller flick, written and directed by David Farr. It stars Clemence Poesy, Stephen Campbell Moore, David Morrissey and Laura Birn. The film is about a couple, that's expecting a child, that gets into severe conflict with another couple, expecting their own child, that lives beneath them. The movie got good reviews from critics, and I enjoyed it as well.

Kate (Poesy) and Justin (Moore) are expecting their first child. A new couple, named Teresa (Birn) and Jon (Morrissey), just moved into the apartment below them; and they're expecting their first baby as well. The two couples meet, and have dinner together. Something goes horribly wrong, and the couples find themselves at great odds with each other.

The film is very slow-building, at first, and that really tried my patience; but once the story really gets going, the movie becomes very interesting. The characters are all really well written, and acted. The film is also nicely stylized, with creepy, and sometimes very unsettling, atmosphere. The twist at the end is not that shocking though (not nearly as much as the filmmakers appear to think), and (again) the first half of the movie is very slow-paced.

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Character buildup. For most of the movie. Too bad they are so two dimensional it hurts, some drastic change of behavior is supposed to be intriguing when it's just a welcomed announcement that things are actually moving towards the ending, which is obvious right from the start.

Don't miss the blatant, obnoxious plot device near the middle, or you might actually get surprised by some detail at the end. The Hand That Rocks The Cradle even had that more subtly, in addition with a decently paced script. Which is another crappy movie, but fairly entertaining for its time.

Acting isn't bad, until daddy throws his fit, but the plot is bad, predictable, and dare I say, unimaginative. A TV movie from the 80's.