Before I annihilate this movie, it should be said that there are a couple of positive things about it. Firstly, despite the plot being overdone in so many horror films, it gets some points for the threat being human rather than the usual supernatural haunting. Unfortunately, the overall execution lets it down, which is a shame because this spin on the premise could’ve had a lot more potential. Secondly, the two protagonists have some likeability and I particularly enjoyed their scenes together early in the film, as well as the enthusiastic estate agent.
One of the first things that I noticed when it started was how obvious the generic horror movie music was, which continued throughout most of the film, to the point where it became obnoxious. It really takes you out of the film and makes you aware that you are, indeed, watching a Lifetime horror movie (that’s what’s really scary about it). It could’ve benefited a lot from losing some of the music, especially in scenes where it didn’t feel necessary. The pace was also very slow and it felt long even though it was only around 90 minutes. This is possibly because it attempts to build tension rather than just use jump scares which is admirable, but it doesn’t quite succeed at it. At times, it’s unclear whether it’s intending to be a horror or a thriller, because it doesn’t combine the genres but instead jumps from one tone to the other. Overall, there’s a lot of issues with the film and its positive aspects aren’t enough to redeem it. Putting aside all assumptions about Lifetime movies, it does give the sense that it’s trying to get a vision across and that it had potential, but sadly it doesn’t quite manage to fulfil it.