Baffled by the near-universal praise. First off, the marketing team at Neon is brilliant. Every teaser, promo, early review gave an impression that THIS was the horror film of the year. I was filled with dread walking into the theater.
Unfortunately, the movie is a lot of half-baked horror cliches propped up by art-house style. A perfect example of modern “elevated horror” done wrong. I wouldn’t mind the “mood over substance” nature of the movie if the mood were at…

I’m impressed by the hand wringing over this movie’s supposed “spinelessness” and “emptiness.” So many reviews complain that this isn’t the movie they had hoped or expected to see. It’s not what I expected, either. Some of this misperception can be blamed on the marketing, which framed the movie as some kind of political/cultural explosion. A24 posting a civil war map––depicting the Western forces, the independent republics, etc.––was meant only to stir up controversy and debate, toying with our expectations.…

Could tell within the first 10 minutes this wouldn't be my jam. It's a tone thing. Let's call it dark whimsy? Lemony Snicket sci-fi? Don't Look Up broad satire meets EEAAO's earnestness? That's on me. I could see plenty of people connecting with this. Regardless, some set-pieces blew me away (dinner with Ruffalo) and the filmmaking is technically great. The story left a lot of philosophical questions unexplored in favor of silly hijinks and Avatar-style moralizing (and too-obvious satire). Mostly…