You Should Have Left — Movie Review
by KJ Proulx
There are far more films being made in today’s day than ever before and that goes for all genres, but for some reason, it always seems like the Horror genre as the most. I know that’s not true, but seeing streaming services like Shudder dedicating themselves to only Horror films, it’s hard to not believe that. For that reason alone, I know there are many more throwaway Horror movies out there than memorable ones. That’s actually due to my own personal taste as well though, because a Horror movie really needs to stand out in order to impress me. Much like Superhero movies or Comedies, both of which I love, they need to find ways of feeling fresh and not like the last 10 or 20 to be released. Sadly, one of the latest Horror releases, You Should Have Left, falls directly in between, ending up as a film that's trying to be very original, but not doing enough with the setting to warrant a watch.
Theo (Kevin Bacon), his wife Susanna (Amanda Seyfried), and their daughter Ella all take a trip to a house, secluded from society. Susanna being an actress and Theo just wanting to do something fun with his retirement, they choose this place. Dealing with some personal issues as the house decides to play tricks with their minds, this movie is meant to be a huge psychological thriller. Unfortunately, the psychology of it all never really comes into play until the third act and I never once found myself invested before that. Sure, Bacon and Seyfried are giving fine performances and the last 20–30 minutes are somewhat interesting, but the entire film felt like a missed opportunity.
Before watching it, I had only recently seen any promotional material, of which showed some very cool ideas and imagery. With that said, this movie takes far too long to present those images, which makes you wonder if the entire first and second acts needed to be as long as they were. For a feature film and how the overall story ultimately plays out, I absolutely feel this film could’ve been told as a short story. The funny thing is that it’s actually based on a novel of the same name, by Daniel Kehlmann, but the overall premise is different. The changes they made to this story clearly were a detriment because it just didn’t feel like a meaty enough story as a feature film.
Getting back to the fact that this is billed as a Horror flick, the Horror elements nearly feel non-existent throughout the first two acts. The movie begins with a scare and a few very minor things present themselves to let you know something is coming, but that’s it. There are a few well-done set-pieces, but they don’t do enough with them. For instance; There is a sequence toward the end of the film that revolves around a bunch of doors, which I would’ve loved to have been explored as a movie in its own right. It’s cool moments like these that are brushed over in favour of a plot twist that I didn’t feel worked all that well, to be honest.
In the end, You Should Have Left presents a solid setting but it doesn’t do anything with it. Director David Koepp, whom I have admittedly not seen a lot of his work, impressed me with his fun touch on the film Premium Rush. I found that movie to be far more exciting than it had any right being, which ultimately made me make my decision to visit his newest work. This is a film that suffers from too much drama throughout the first half that really has not much of a payoff by the time the credits rolled. Personally, I found the whole experience to be hollow, which is a shame, because the makings of a good film were all in here, but even at 90-minutes is seemed to be stretched out too long. You Should Half Left is now streaming on-demand, but I really don’t think it’s worth your time.
Rating: 2/5
Check out the trailer below:
