#deannorris

Lisa Kudrow. Brian Cox. Edie Falco. Dean Norris. Parker Posey. Plus rising stars Nik Dodani and Brandon Flynn as a sweet, grounded gay couple. A stacked cast that reads like a prestige TV dream team.

And yet… it’s a total misfire.

This horror-comedy—about two sets of parents meeting at a countryside house, only to be terrorized by a 400-year-old entity—feels like a recycled SNL sketch stretched to 90 minutes. The jokes don’t land. The scares don’t scare. The “satire” is toothless, relying on tired tropes and gags we have seen a million times.

It’s not Scary Movie—it’s not even trying to be. It’s safe, studio-approved quirk with all the edge sanded off. And that’s the real tragedy: when you give legends like Cox and Falco nothing to do but deliver sitcom lines, it’s not just boring—it’s insulting.

I went in hoping for a genre-reviving Halloween gem. I left wondering how this script ever got greenlit.

2/5 stars. A wasted ensemble in a film that’s neither funny nor frightening—just forgettable. We should stop letting SNL writers make movies.

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If you’ve seen it, I’d love to hear your take! And if you’re new here: I’m covering 31 Days of Horror all October with daily reviews of hidden gems, misfires, and everything in between.

"Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. "