Watched this recently and...it was nothing special, just OK, i was expecting something (much) better due to all the hype surrounding it (and its almost 2 year delay).
The problem is that it's not scary at all, i would say that it's more of a thriller than a "horror" movie and the story - what little there is to it - feels incomplete.
No real motivations explained regarding some characters, the "lore" is completely absent behind the "grabber" (who is he ? what are the masks about ? Why is he wearing them ?) and some (always convenient) plot holes. I like ambiguous things/themes, not everything needs to be explained, in fact, i hate when movies try to do that, it's just that this felt like they couldn't be arsed about and/or they needed it to be at a very specific runtime.
Also : the fact that "Ethan All-time American dad® Hawke" plays the part of the grabber (i.e : bad guy) is just...nope, the guy is one of the nicest dudes in Hollywood and a good actor all around but for these roles you either need a completely unknown actor or someone that plays these type of "wacky" roles - the more detached from being "nice" the better, it's like casting - i don't know - Steve martin for the role of a serial killer, it just doesn't work (for me), in fact, i find it pretty funny that Jeremy Davies plays a normal role in this one (without the usual Jeremy Davies jazz hand(s)® and 8547345 speech pauses per minute) while Hawke plays the bad/weird character, it should've been the other way around since Davies can get genuinely creepy, Hawke on the other hand...
Cinematography was spot-friggin'-on, as was the direction, music (late 70's authenticity) and acting (generally speaking) but, in the end, the whole thing feels way too shallow and generic with the usual "dead kids' ghosts trying to help other kid" trope, it's a shame really as it could have been kinda special, haven't read the short story TBH but the movie's story just feels empty, in the end it feels like yet another "coming of age" and "trying to find you true self" kind of movie with some "horror" elements sprinkled here and there as opposed to a gritty, dark and morbid one (taking into consideration the Child serial killer thing).
it's a solid 5.5-6/10 film, it just didn't manage to grab me the way i expected it to do.
Even the recent-ish Antlers and it comes at night (2017) which were both kind of mediocre were better than this IMO.
Aaaaand...the search for a new good horror film continues
