It has been a pretty good year for horror. This is a genre that I rarely find good ones and 2016 has delivered a solid amount of memorable ones that managed to get me into to see it on the big screen.

The trailer and concept for this particular one did a great job of getting my bum on a seat at my local multiplex and see what director Fede Alvarez has in store. The only thing I know that he's done is the Evil Dead re-make, which is a pretty solid re-make.

Well, it is not often that I would say that I had fun after seeing a horror film. I usually say that for films like Scream or The Cabin In The Woods where it makes fun of its own genre.
What made this was how they made the pacing give the film such thrills and excitement whilst obviously feeling quite scared, tense and squirming in my seat for most of it.
At times, it is pretty ruthless and even nasty. But all of that is certainly not gratuitous. It all means something. There is a big development as they head towards the final act. It may divide some people. But I was cool with it, and it made perfect sense with the rest of the story. They capitalised on the concept pretty well and its snappy 88min duration was a real plus. Short duration's for horror is always a good sign. It's straight to the point and goes out when it should.

All the main protagonists Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette and Daniel Zovatto did their job well. Most notably Levy and Minnette.
But Stephen Lang was fantastic as the main villain. He made great use of the limits his character could do and definitely helped that intensity throughout. He may not have had much dialogue in this. But his physical performance makes up for it. I hope he gets more roles as the only thing I remember seeing him in was Avatar. I can definitely see him play a villain in a Marvel film. Lord knows that studio needs a memorable villain, why not him?

There were not many other roles to speak of as it is a 'home invasion' film. It was a great execution of this sub-genre premise that many thought had been done to death.
Some of it reminded me of a similar 'home invasion' film, Panic Room. From the gritty look, to the camerawork and one of the characters looking almost identical to Jared Leto's character. It's not a bad thing as I like Panic Room. I just think that maybe it was paying a small homage to that David Fincher thriller.

There was a big role for the technical department in this. With the concept in place, the sound design had to be a key player. It was done pretty well and played an important part in some of the scares.

Only a few minor negatives. There were confusing moments in the action scenes that was probably due to bad camerawork. Another negative was that as much as the sound design was put to good use. I t felt like it was only used selectively rather than all the time, which sort of lost it some realism for me.

Thankfully they were only minor, as director Alvarez has a great job. Props to him and his team. He broke through with his re-make of Evil Dead, and now his execution of his concept would not have been done by anyone else I reckon. I do not say this about any horror director at all, but I will be looking out for his next project.
There is an exciting vibe to it all, the tension was almost unbearable and everything scare moment felt like it meant something. There is one gross moment towards the end. But I did not think it felt out of tone with the rest of the film. One things for sure, I will never look at a turkey baster the same way ever again.
All the scares are effective and they build the tension really well. There were countless moments where I thought the scares were over. But then another manages to jump in there. By the end of it, I gave up thinking when this terrifying situation would be over.

Probably have to say it is the best horror I have seen of 2016 so far.

Rating: 8/10