Director: Akiva Golsman
Writer: Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski (Screenplay)
Starring: Shree Crooks, Frank Grillo, Anna Torv, Jonah Beres, LaSaundra Gibson, Samantha Smith
Plot: After a mysterious global crisis, a young girl is left alone to hide from a malevolent power that stalks her home. Her parents eventually return and the struggle begins to save their daughter.
Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Strong Until the End
Story: Stephanie starts as we meet a young girl Stephanie (Crooks) living alone with her teddy bear Francis, she cooks, prepares meals for a family, but is alone, only she has something make noise around the house, haunting her from the shadows.
Stephanie does get a surprise visit from her parents (Grillo) and (Torv) who she thought had left her, only there is something different about them, something that makes her feel uneasy, despite finally having someone to talk too and protect her from the monster.
Thoughts on Stephanie
Characters – Stephanie is a young girl that seems to be all alone, her parents have vanished, her brother has died, she only has her teddy bear to keep her company, which sees her needing to feed herself and make friends with the local wildlife, despite being in fear of something that lurks in the shadows away from her, waiting for her. Mum and Dad do return, though something is different about them, as they look to protect her from a monster that is around, they bring a smile to Stephanie’s face, one that has been missing for so long.
Performances – Shree Crooks in the leading role is excellent, she brings the innocence to the character, which is needed to show how helpless she is during the film, while Frank Grillo and Anna Torv doing well in their roles in the film.
Story – The story here follows a young girl that is left alone during an incident, she is trying to keep her life together, feeding not going crazy and living in fear, until her parents return, with a new revelations that will change the life of the young girl. This is a story that works on the idea of mis-direction by taking us one way, only tot turn everything on its head, which is interesting to see, as we are left surprised with what happens and in many case, shocked because you won’t see it coming.
Horror/Mystery – The horror in this film comes from seeing first what Stephanie is going through, with her haunting and then the reveal of the monster, with the mystery playing into a lot of why Stephanie is alone and what the monster is.
Settings – The film is set in one location, a house in the middle of a orchid that has seen Stephanie left alone, waiting for her parents to return.
Special Effects – The effects are the weakest part of the film, as they show us how CGI certain parts of the film are.
Scene of the Movie – The truth about the monster.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It does leave too many questions.
Final Thoughts – This is an interesting horror that gets about 90% right, only it seems to fall apart with the conclusion, which is more of a non-finish.
Overall: Lacks the Ending.
