What begins as a slow burn thriller gradually becomes something much more unsettling. Beneath the serial killer premise is a film about intuition, isolation, and what happens when everyone around you insists your reality is the wrong one.
Every technical choice reinforces that feeling. The cinematography constantly frames Julia through windows, mirrors, and doorways until you begin scanning every corner of the screen alongside her. Even the sound design keeps you on edge. Footsteps, breathing, distant city noise, long stretches of silence. It creates a constant feeling that something isn’t right, even when nothing is happening.
Maika Monroe is phenomenal. She carries almost the entire film through expression alone, making every glance and hesitation feel believable. Burn Gorman is equally incredible. He barely has to do anything, yet his presence is enough to make every scene uncomfortable.
Also I have to note that Julia’s husband SUCKS. I was writing a list of every terrible thing he said or did. Moving your wife to a country where she doesn’t speak the language is isolating enough. Constantly dismissing her fears, speaking over her, excluding her from conversations, and making her question her own instincts was almost harder to watch than the watcher himself. (Gentlemen, if your lady ever feels uneasy or that something is wrong LISTEN TO HER. Whether she’s right or wrong isn’t the point. A woman’s intuition is incredible.)
The film never lets you settle. It keeps asking whether you’re witnessing paranoia or perception, and that uncertainty becomes the real source of tension.
One of the best psychological thrillers I’ve seen in a while.
What begins as a slow burn thriller gradually becomes something much more unsettling. Beneath the serial killer premise is a film about intuition, isolation, and what happens when everyone around you insists your reality is the wrong one.
Every technical choice reinforces that feeling. The cinematography constantly frames Julia through windows, mirrors, and doorways until you begin scanning every corner of the screen alongside her. Even the sound design keeps you on edge. Footsteps, breathing, distant city noise, long stretches of silence. It creates a constant feeling that something isn’t right, even when nothing is happening.
Maika Monroe is phenomenal. She carries almost the entire film through expression alone, making every glance and hesitation feel believable. Burn Gorman is equally incredible. He barely has to do anything, yet his presence is enough to make every scene uncomfortable.
Also I have to note that Julia’s husband SUCKS. I was writing a list of every terrible thing he said or did. Moving your wife to a country where she doesn’t speak the language is isolating enough. Constantly dismissing her fears, speaking over her, excluding her from conversations, and making her question her own instincts was almost harder to watch than the watcher himself. (Gentlemen, if your lady ever feels uneasy or that something is wrong LISTEN TO HER. Whether she’s right or wrong isn’t the point. A woman’s intuition is incredible.)
The film never lets you settle. It keeps asking whether you’re witnessing paranoia or perception, and that uncertainty becomes the real source of tension.
One of the best psychological thrillers I’ve seen in a while.
