I went into watching Stephanie not knowing anything about it and I recommend you do the same. I was so pleasantly surprised with how good it was, it's not a top tier move but I did enjoy it a lot.
I'm going to keep this opening synopsis of the plot purposefully vague, I'll also add that I ordinarily would put it under a more fitting sub-genre but I don't want to spoil the story.
We are introduced to Stephanie played by young actress Shree Cooks as she wanders around her house, seemingly left on her own why this is we aren't quite sure but all we do know is that a malevolent force has descended upon her house.
Shree Cooks has given us one of my favourite performances from a child in a movie, she's endearingly funny, goofy and has a vulnerability about her that makes you want to look after her and find out just what the hell has happened to her parents. She really is excellent in this. I should mention the performances from the supporting cast are also really strong, most notably Anna Torv (who I like in everything I've seen her in).
My only criticism is that there is one moment of poor CGI,
the scene itself is good but the CGI does take you out of the moment a little, you have to bear in mind this is a movie that's made on a relatively low budget but even then it by no means affected my enjoyment of the film.
Tonally it reminded me a lot of "Before I Wake" by Mike Flanagan, by that I mean that it is a character driven and emotionally engaging story that while within the horror genre the horror is not the films main focus, for the most part at least.
I love coming across overlooked films like this
that remind me I haven't seen everything good that's out there.
It's definitely worth your time, however do not read the imdb synopsis as it spoils the vast majority of the film,
go in blind.
Add comment
Comments