You know that first part of a horror movie when you see a couple and they’re flirting and one is getting the other to get comfortable for “a drink” but you know that one of them is actually a monster and the other is unknowingly flirting with their doom? You know that seductive, but sometimes awkward, but also sometimes very purposefully hesitant linguistic dance both parties do? One is just trying to get some sexy times, and one is just playing with their food, so to speak?
Neil LaBute gives you a whole movie of that. Literally. It’s that 10-minute bit in most horror movies stretched out to the full running time here and it mostly works thanks to the whip-smart dialogue and solid performances.
Justin Long is “Hap” which may be a bit on-the-nose, but he’s the perfect guy to play the dude that is so busy trying to get laid that he fails to see the danger he’s in. It’s even better if you’ve seen him in Barbarian as Hap has shades of the same “nice guy” personality.
There’s no real surprises here, and if you’re looking for “horror” as in jump scares, creepy music, and CG face-stretching, forget it. This is about LaBute winding along the audience with that scary after-the-bar interaction we’ve all had at one time or another.
Maybe it’s just me, but as soon as I ran into “sisters” named Mina and Lucy living in a big old mansion, my first thought would be, “What, like Dracula?”