Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
Plot: After Melissa and her family seek shelter from a tornado they become trapped. With no sign of rescue and strange happenings outside Melissa begins to fear that she and her girlfriend Amy might have something to do with the horrors that threaten her family.
Review: I’ll start right off by saying this is one of those horror movies most people will dismiss as boring. It’s slow (sometimes painfully so), everything happens in one location, and there isn’t much here in terms of blood and gore. I myself only decided to watch it as background noise while I played myself some Destiny 2 (any fans out there?). But the more it went on, the more I found myself dying in the game because We Need to Do Something kept pulling my attention until I felt compelled to put down the game controller and really look at what this macabre tale of claustrophobia, distrust, and survival was all about.
There a couple of familiar faces here. We have Vinessa Shaw as mom Diane (no stranger to the genre with her turns in The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Come out and Play and Family Blood, Pat Healy (Cheap Thrills, Compliance) as patriarch Robert, and then we have youngsters Sierra McCormick as daughter Vanessa and John James Cronin as her younger brother Bobby. Ozzy Osbourne is also here, or at least his voice is as Good Boy, but the story is centered on the family of four as they become trapped in their bathroom after a tornado causes their house to collapse.
With little to no food, a father who is anything but supportive, and the possibility that what lies outside may be something much worse than a storm, We Need to Do Something is the type of movie that needs strong performances to keep you invested and, for the most part, that’s what we got.
The slow burn pace here is the hardest part of this movie to get through. Whenever a movie is set in one location it’s critically important for the cast and the director to give us compelling reasons to keep watching, and the first half of this movie definitely lacks those reasons. Melissa as our lead protagonist is by and far the weakest aspect of the story. And considering the fact what’s happening around her might be due to her dabbling in witchcraft with her girlfriend Amy (Lisette Alexis) one would hope she would be more interesting. Instead I found her to be grating and a bit whiny.
The strength of this movie lies in the performances of our parental units as time goes by and things go from bad to worse. Healy as Robert is the kind of character you love to hate and Shaw as his wife Diane has this great sense of rage boiling right under the surface. I was just waiting for these two to go at it, and when things finally exploded they both delivered in the best ways.
There’s not much gore here (although a gnarly snake bite and a disgusting ripped tongue does pop up) but what really kept me invested was the mystery of what was REALLY happening outside that bathroom? There’s this scene where the kids open the door a bit (it can’t open wide enough for anyone to get in or out) and Bobby sticks his hand out to play with what he thinks is a dog. His sister also does this and delights in the dog licking her hand…until the “dog” speaks. It’s creepy as hell, and I wish the movie had more moments like this.
Some tighter editing and pacing would’ve done a lot to amp up the energy here. And while this isn’t the kind of movie I would insist people check out due to how slow it is, the story does build and the conclusion is a solid one. You know how sometimes a movie sucks but the ending is so good it ends up redeeming the movie a bit? That’s what I think happened here. So if you want to check this out yourself just remember—it’s slow, it’s got a few stellar moments here and there, and the ending might just be worth the effort.
Sommer’s Score: 5 out of 10
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Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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