He's Out There (2018)

Before pressing play, power down the brain

By: JWBM

What could be better to get away from it all than a nice relaxing time with the family at the summer cabin by the lake? Love, laughter, and a sadistic, masked killer with another diabolical plan in mind. Well, everything except for the last one.

"Friday the 13th Par...," I mean "He's Out There" has a straightforward plot that's as simple as they must stay alive and dodge getting their innards splattered from the bad guy with an obsession for tea parties and severed body parts. After some introductions, this delivers a moment by moment horror/thriller where every second counts. You get to see trip-over-their-own-two-feet, ordinary people getting pulverized by a villain with too much time on his hands to trap his victims every move.

The film has a certain timing to it, to where the tension is constant. By keeping the maniacal ax wielder in the shadows, it manages to make him become everywhere at once. It's more of a tried and true, emotionally jarring movie than it has anything to do with having deeper layers or being a sophisticated one. With that, it doesn't always keep your mind from racing or thinking ahead to see some of the predictability of it all if you've seen a few trapped in a house by an unflinching murderer kind of films. I mean, some violent and twisted things happen to pass the time, though the film isn't as memorable as, say, the sheer intensity and terror of "Inside" or "The Collector." These are still normal people like you or I with two scared out of their minds little girls that are more high-pitched squealers than they are fighters. Now, that would have been an interesting twist.

Rating: 4.5/10

Director: Quinn Lasher
Actors: Yvonne Strahovski
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube trailer