Released: 2018
Starring: Dermot Mulroney, Diana Silvers, Tembi Locke, Meredith Salenger, Heidi Sulzman, Lavetta Cannon, Matthew Downs, Liisa Cohen, Rasha Goel, Erin Fitzgerald, Krystin Noel Goodwin
Director: Patrick Lussier
Distributed by: Hulu
Rated: TV-MA
“This Thanksgiving, carve out some family time.”
After seeing the first installment of the Blumhouse series Into The Dark on Hulu – The Body – I was anxious to watch the rest. The first had been a welcome surprise – it was fun, engaging, and had a lot of love for each one of its characters. I was excited to see more of those twists and turns in the next portion, Flesh & Blood. I admittedly had higher expectations after seeing the first. Based on the very brief plot description, and my prior experience, I thought the second movie was going to be a blast. Boy, was I wrong.
Flesh & Blood stars a young girl, Kimberly Tooms, played by Diana Silvers (Booksmart and Glass), who struggles with agoraphobia after the murder of her mother. She is in the care of her doting father Henry Tooms, played by Dermot Mulroney (August: Osage County and My Best Friend’s Wedding) who makes sure she has a wonderful homeschool education, is well-taken care of, and wants for nothing. After several girls end up murdered in their neighborhood, however, Kimberly notices some strange behaviors in her father.
Just like the first film in the series, Flesh & Blood looks wonderful. The entire movie takes place inside the Tooms’ house which is under construction and covered in plastic. Kimberly is shown early on trying to retrieve a package from the front step, and being unable to due to an intense panic attack that occurs as soon as she steps out the front door. The camera helps the audience see through her eyes as the world suddenly goes blurry and begins to spin, but as soon as she steps back into the house…everything is fine. This establishes early on that Kim is definitely stuck in that house.
The two main actors’ performances were lackluster. I credit that to the poor writing: the lines sound terribly awkward and most of Henry’s lines – even during his character’s ‘development’ – have absolutely no motivation or emotion behind them. He becomes the protagonist early on, and I tried to see his detachment as deliberate. Perhaps he was simply trying to appear more ‘insane’, but it came off two-dimensional. The reasoning for his behavior is never explained. He is also extremely repetitive, saying something akin to, “I love you. You’re my daughter. We are supposed to look out for each other,” in a monotone way several times per scene.
The connection to Thanksgiving – the holiday by which this film was to be inspired – was non-existent. I will admit that it might be difficult to have a Thanksgiving-themed horror film, but this one didn’t seem to try. Occasionally, the characters mentioned that they were going to try to have a Thanksgiving dinner even though it brought up painful memories of the late mother, but it could have easily been replaced with any other time of year. The turkey is burnt in the oven, which gives Henry an excuse to shout, but as soon as it’s revealed, it’s forgotten.
I can only think of “boring” as a way to describe Flesh & Blood. There was not one scene in which I cared about any of the characters or found myself wondering what was going to happen. There was no feeling of nervousness when Kim was in trouble, and no overwhelming hatred for Henry, no concern for any of the other minor characters when they appeared. The plot of the story seemed to go around in circles without working its way to a climax. Random events seemed to disrupt the cycle, such as a visit from the police and from the psychologist, but they all seemed forced, like the writers just needed a way to break up the monotony of the story. The scenes that seemed to set up a mystery failed so miserably to get me to care about what happened. The reason for the mother’s murder was never justified and any time people spoke of her it was so devoid of sincere emotion. This was one of those movies my husband saw no need to watch in its entirety.
Rating:
Fool on the Hill:
I rate this movie two popcorns. It really was not a good film. I was so excited, after seeing that The Body was so decent, but the weird detachment of the characters and the lackluster writing and performance really made a story with so much potential uninteresting. The idea of a young lady stuck in the house with a dangerous and manipulative family member has a horrifying reality to it that some fictional horror films don’t have, but this movie just did a terrible job portraying that. If you are going to watch the Into the Dark series, I suggest skipping Flesh & Blood.
Jack Savage:
This being the first of the Into The Dark series I have watched, I have to say I am not very keen into watching any more. Production-wise, Flesh & Blood looks good, and the idea of the movie is interesting and has potential, but it took too long to get to the climax. This felt like a story that could have been told in about 45 minutes, not an hour and thirty. I do think Dermot Mulroney had a fine performance as the father character though.
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