This was missing something. I think it really could have benefited from more discovery somehow. Like if the killer wasn't just a random evil dude and he had an actual personal agenda against these people, which was slowly figured out throughout the movie. If they wanted to stick with random there just needed to be something else. I'm not sure what, but this wasn't enough. This was all too drawn out for what little there was to it.
Television news talking about a psycho being in her area in the background when Maddie wasn't paying attention is an example of what could have been a useful and nice, simple touch. It needed more little relevant details to build suspense as it played out.
Also, the whole "Craig thing" in the beginning ended up being a wasted opportunity. It was a completely useless detail. It really only made sense to include it so explicitly if this Craig was going to show up at some point. I mean, he could have swooped in towards the end and helped save the day. Or hell, he could have shown up to help the killer because he was sick of Maddie's indecisiveness about them.
After so much time spent on such a basic storyline, the ending could have used a little more closure; like even showing that Maddie went on to become the most talked about novelist across the globe. She could have been shown not living alone anymore. Even one of those annoying, surprise twists could have been tacked onto this as a more striking finish; like where she's shown happy and thriving in the future, and then we see a masked man watching her new place.
I haven't even went on about the suspension of disbelief needed to get through this. It's too far fetched that Maddie would be so close in proximity with perfectly capable peripheral vision, but not notice her friend either banging on the door and trying to get in, or being so brutally and forcefully stabbed against it. Wouldn't there be a unique way to get her attention when someone's at the door anyway because she's deaf? Might there not also be a unique way to reach out in the event of an emergency, like some sort of panic button? Maddie throws away far too many opportunities to escape or to get to her attacker. When she was outside under the porch she should have sat tight and waited for him to break in; then ran like hell for help. When her friend's boyfriend had the bad guy pinned down she should have ran out and stabbed the shit out of him. But they're all details that could easily be overlooked had the rest of it been done better.
Why did they choose to pull out Maddie's "writer" ability to quickly think through different scenarios and their outcomes only towards the end suddenly, and not throughout? Yes, she was shown struggling with her writing at the start, but she could have been shown struggling to think through the scenarios; it could have been the reason she kept making poor decisions! Adrenaline could have given her triumph over her writer's block and in turn defeated the scumbag killer. That could have proved interesting done the right way and given the movie the something more that it sorely needed. Go ahead and contact me, Hollywood. I'll help you write your shit!
Review by Bunny HarvestmanBlockedParent2020-11-03T20:28:10Z
This was missing something. I think it really could have benefited from more discovery somehow. Like if the killer wasn't just a random evil dude and he had an actual personal agenda against these people, which was slowly figured out throughout the movie. If they wanted to stick with random there just needed to be something else. I'm not sure what, but this wasn't enough. This was all too drawn out for what little there was to it.
Television news talking about a psycho being in her area in the background when Maddie wasn't paying attention is an example of what could have been a useful and nice, simple touch. It needed more little relevant details to build suspense as it played out.
Also, the whole "Craig thing" in the beginning ended up being a wasted opportunity. It was a completely useless detail. It really only made sense to include it so explicitly if this Craig was going to show up at some point. I mean, he could have swooped in towards the end and helped save the day. Or hell, he could have shown up to help the killer because he was sick of Maddie's indecisiveness about them.
After so much time spent on such a basic storyline, the ending could have used a little more closure; like even showing that Maddie went on to become the most talked about novelist across the globe. She could have been shown not living alone anymore. Even one of those annoying, surprise twists could have been tacked onto this as a more striking finish; like where she's shown happy and thriving in the future, and then we see a masked man watching her new place.
I haven't even went on about the suspension of disbelief needed to get through this. It's too far fetched that Maddie would be so close in proximity with perfectly capable peripheral vision, but not notice her friend either banging on the door and trying to get in, or being so brutally and forcefully stabbed against it. Wouldn't there be a unique way to get her attention when someone's at the door anyway because she's deaf? Might there not also be a unique way to reach out in the event of an emergency, like some sort of panic button? Maddie throws away far too many opportunities to escape or to get to her attacker. When she was outside under the porch she should have sat tight and waited for him to break in; then ran like hell for help. When her friend's boyfriend had the bad guy pinned down she should have ran out and stabbed the shit out of him. But they're all details that could easily be overlooked had the rest of it been done better.
Why did they choose to pull out Maddie's "writer" ability to quickly think through different scenarios and their outcomes only towards the end suddenly, and not throughout? Yes, she was shown struggling with her writing at the start, but she could have been shown struggling to think through the scenarios; it could have been the reason she kept making poor decisions! Adrenaline could have given her triumph over her writer's block and in turn defeated the scumbag killer. That could have proved interesting done the right way and given the movie the something more that it sorely needed. Go ahead and contact me, Hollywood. I'll help you write your shit!