You Should Have Left

Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Kevin Bacon, Avery Essex

Director: David Koepp

Based on the novel "You Should Have Left" by Daniel Kehlmann

Plagued by horrific nightmares and insecurities because of his past, Theo (Kevin Bacon) decides he and his actress wife Susanna (Amanda Seyfried) should take their daughter Ella (Avery Essex) and rent a house in Wales. They are hoping for a relaxing vacation but instead things seem odd from the start. Theo notices the house is much bigger on the inside than it looks, there are no pictures up of the family who lives there and the townsfolk are curious how they heard about the house and if anything had started happening yet. The nightmares are also getting worse, which in turn fuels Theo's paranoia that there is something wrong with the house. When he discovers a message in his notebook telling them to leave he soon discovers the house might not let him.

Kevin Bacon reunites with his Stir of Echoes director Koepp and I wish they had been able to repeat that success. Even the trailer for that 1999 film had more tension and horror than this limp and empty genre effort.

There are absolutely no scares to be found and I am a pretty jumpy person in these types of movies. It's hard to tell where the issue lies, the script or the source material. I don't mind movies with a slow build but at least things should be happening or hinting at some sort of bigger picture, which here is supposedly Theo confronting his past. But it takes so much time for any mystery to kick in or for Theo and the house to have any sort of meaningful connection. By the time it does, it's become so predictable that it's hard to even care. Don't expect answers either, as this movie loves to pose questions and not provide any reason as to why.

The movie does look great, with the house and production design providing a genuinely creepy setting. The fact that the movie doesn't do more with its setting makes it feel like even more of a waste. The editing, which really doesn't become important until the third act, does help add a small amount of disorienting tension to keep things somewhat interesting. However, it doesn't distract enough from the rest of the movie's shortcomings.

Bacon and Seyfried do what they can with their severely underwritten and uninteresting roles, but Seyfried's role in particular is pretty thankless. She is even absent from the third act which feels weird but again I don't know if this is a source material issue. While they do have chemistry together, it's a shame they are stuck in such a dud like this.

Despite some good talent in front of and behind the camera, this dull haunted house thriller lacks the thrills and chills needed to be a successful genre effort.

Grade: D

You Should Have Left is available on VOD