Christmas is a great time to set practically any kind of story - particularly the traditional, Euro/American Christmases with snow and decoration. Forcing people who don't want to be together, often stuck in the same couple of rooms, means that tensions are quickly raised and can explode freely and frequently. In the case of this horror/thriller story, though, Christmas is largely, excuse the pun, ornamental - the basic nature of the situation is pretty non-season specific. A 13 year old and his 18 year old babysitter are at his house - he's got a mild crush on her, which she seems determined to ignore, when suddenly their house becomes besieged by unknown figures outside. And as tensions rise it becomes difficult to tell who's going to be around when or if mum and dad get home....
There's a basic casting inadequacy that brings this film undone. Olivia DeJonge as the babysitter is not that inadequacy - she's got the modern thriller-horror heroine down pat, resourceful and smart enough to be more than just ready-for-the-slaughter victim, while still not so world conquering as to be invulnerable. No, the problem is Levi Miller, who I moaned about earlier in the year with "Red Dog: True Blue". He's a very ... contrived actor, whose performances have never managed to pull the illusion that he's not acting. And given he's 50% of the leads, that's going to bring the film undone. There are a couple of clever plot twists and surprises, together with some genuine creepiness, but it doesn't hold together as well as it might with a better co-lead.
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