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Dinah (Elena Caruso) and Jake's (Chris Conner) marriage has seen better
days for sure, but they want to save their relationship, also for their
kids Steven (Noah Headley) and Michaela's (Accalia Quintana) sake - so
they decide to quit the city for the summer and move deep into Amish
country where there's no cellphone reception, no internet, no nothing.
Dinah and Jake intend this to be a bonding experience for the whole
family, but the grown ups soon enough have their own agendas to deal with,
while the kids, left on their own and without their usual means of
entertainment, start to exploring the region unsupervised, and soon come
across all sorts of eccentric characters, some just Amish people from the
neighbourhood, but some might actually be spectres from the afterworld. Of
course, Dinah and Jake are concerned, but not enough to put the welfare of
their children above their own petty problems.
... and concerned they should be, as apparently the region is haunted -
and that's not so much a myth among the Amish but based on the numerous
disappearances of people in the area, as well as a bona fide massacre
among an Amish family. Abraham (Greg Wood), the patriarch, blames it all
on an unnamable creature living in the woods, but is too afraid to do
anything about it. In the meantime, summer solstice is approaching,
apparently an event that requests human sacrifice, and Steven and Michaela
start to behave weirder and weirder, while Jake starts having violent
outbursts. And now it's up to Dinah to save the day - but she's hardly a
match for what she's up against ...
A nice horror thriller that creates a mystery by telling its
story on two temporal levels while putting atmosphere over spectacle
(until the finale at least) and making perfect use of its very moody
locations. The result is not a movie of jump scares but one that manages
to gradually creep out the audience. And a strong ensemble cast (including
the two kids) really help bringing things across in a very unsettling
manner.
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