The Unfamiliar

All the characters are shallow and dull. Izzy has PTSD, but aside from the few instances (very brief, very minor) where she questions if there’s something supernatural or if she’s experiencing trauma, it is hardly addressed. But that is all there is to her character, so…

Tommy is set up to have an interesting dynamic, as the ‘reveal’ makes what he’s doing potentially more intriguing. But again, the filmmakers fail to do anything with it, so he’s just kid acting weird, and eventually, the reason he’s odd towards his siblings and father come to light. That’s the sort of basic character arc scribbled on a napkin late at night that needs to be fleshed out when writing the script, not the kind that winds up in the finished product. There’s no one to relate to or engage with.

“…no one to relate to or engage with.”

Couple the lack of interesting characters with Pretorius’ flat directing, and The Unfamiliar emerges as all too commonplace: just another potboiler haunting movie that genre fans have seen time and time again. There is no visual flair to establish the film as a must-see on that level. The director does not even manage a convincing jump scare, so imagine how he’s able to maintain a spooky atmosphere – he can’t, so horror hounds will be severely disappointed on that front.

But, that does not mean the film is terrible. Everything is in focus, which given the quality of some movies I have seen recently, is a feat. The (mostly) single location is used to decent effect, and the editing, while never generating a scare, is at least smooth, so the transitions are easy to follow.

The Unfamiliar is made by people with a basic understanding of how to helm a motion picture. But they only know the basics, so the film fails to be of much interest, as it has nothing pushing it to the next level. The actors are boring, though no one embarrasses themselves. The cinematography is crisp but plays it safe, and the editing maintains momentum, but for a story told many times over. Said story could’ve gone somewhere original had certain elements been explored more, but that is not what happens. Haunting tales of this sort have been told before, some better, some worse, but few as instantly forgettable.