phancy.com - horror reviews - MOH 2021
We Need to Do Something
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IMDb Info
Release Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 37min
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre Tags: Horror
Plot Summary: After Melissa and her family seek shelter from a storm, they become trapped. With no sign of rescue, Melissa comes to realize that she and her girlfriend Amy might have something to do with the horrors that threaten her family.
Poster - Title Card
phancy.com rating:
phancy.com notes: I debated on one or two stars, and decided on one, because I ultimately spent 90 minutes annoyed more than anything else. Despite strong performances by the entire cast, there's just not enough character depth to care about anybody. What little flashbacks are provided are the most compelling parts of the movie, but offer the thinnest explanations of plot and character motivation. The brunt of the plot is angry, alcoholic dad being terrible to his family without any sort of larger commentary about it, or thematic connection to the (barely there) plot circumstances. Watching people be cruel to other people in the most banal of ways with zero greater context, despite excellent acting, is not pleasant, even for a horror movie. I will give kudos for the excellent dream sequences and practical effects.
Outside Reviews:
Brian Tallerico
3 out of 4 stars -
rogerebert.com
What I liked the most about We Need to Do Something was the sense that I really had no idea what it was going to do next. Horror is often a predictable genre, but O'Grady and Booth often manage to turn left when you expect this movie to go right. They also embed their tone with a darkly comedic undercurrent that reminded me of Sam Raimi's '80s work and other filmmakers who recognized that it's OK to laugh at extremely disturbing situations. Pat Healy's work helps manage this tone, turning his father from Hell up to 11 with wide eyes and screaming line delivery. He's every patriarch who realized only under pressure that he was incapable of handling it.
Jessica Kiang
We Need To Do Something' Review: A Single-Room Horror That Could Use More Air
Perhaps its scares work more evocatively on the page of screenwriter Max Booth III's novel than in his screen adaptation. But more than most movie genres, horror relies on there being more than just what we see on the screen, and although We Need to Do Something wants us to infer cataclysms happening just outside the frame, it is as trapped therein as the characters are in that damn bathroom.