You Should Have Left – June 18th, 2020

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

A successful middle-aged screenwriter, his actress wife, and their spirited young daughter book a vacation at an isolated modern home in the Welsh countryside where nothing is quite as it seems

MoviesInMo Review

As much as this movie wants to be a complete mind-f**k, it can’t. Somewhere after the first act, they went for it. The second act was perfectly set, and all they had to do was bring it home. So much emotion and so much story to unravel, or so it may seem. “You Should Have Left” has no problem pulling you into its twisted world and stringing you along. Kevin Bacon, playing an aging screenwriter named Theo Conroy, is perfect. His co-stars, Amanda Seyfried and Avery Essex as his wife and daughter, are great but nearly unnecessary. They do offer a bit of depth that helps give the story some substance. As with most Blumhouse produced films, little time is wasted getting to the point. If you’re a fan of this genre, it’s always appreciated when a horror or thriller film can skip past the usual “been there, done that” setup and gets right into the “why should I care about these people.” The immediate focus is on Theo. Throughout the film, we get little snippets of his past and how that relates to what type of person he is now. Things really get interesting when the family decides to vacation in an AirBnB in Wales. And like some other thrillers involving a family in a new or strange house, weird things happen. Unlike the other films in this genre, it’s not the usual threat, so don’t watch this movie with the “I know who did it” attitude. The ending is what sets this film apart from the others in this genre. Unfortunately, it’s also the downfall of this movie. The third act introduced a whole new set of issues that could have made this movie one of the best thrillers made. The ending is only satisfying in a moral sense. But as a person wanting to be thoroughly entertained, who the hell is looking for morals in a thriller?

Extras

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