Rent You Should Have Left (2020)

Supernatural Thriller - You Should Have Left review by GI

A supernatural thriller with it's story based around a weird house (echoes of The Shining are fairly obvious) where middle aged, jealous and stressed Theo (Kevin Bacon) goes with his much younger screen actress wife Susanna (Amanda Seyfried) and their six year old daughter Ella (Avery Essex) for a much needed getaway. It's a big, modern property, in Wales, with no phone signal and a strange design to it. Theo has a dodgy past which comes back to haunt him as strange things begin to happen. There's a lot that's clichéd here but equally the film does offer some quirky twists and sudden events that take you by surprise. Story wise it's enjoyable and entertaining but as a modern indie horror film it lacks that certain sharp sense of impending terror to make it something good. There are events and characters that are left unexplained especially around the house itself which leaves you feeling perplexed and unsatisfied by the end. Entertaining as far as it goes but could have been better.

And you shouldn't bother - You Should Have Left review by cr

You would have thought that with a cast as good as this they would have made a decent film sadly not.

Low budget and boring everyone involved should have turned it down.

Avoid.

More enjoyable as it goes ... - You Should Have Left review by NP

Kevin Bacon stars as Theo in this horror drama about a small family who have moved into a house they don’t feel entirely comfortable in. When I reveal that the family have dark secrets bubbling under the surface, you might well feel you’ve heard this all before.

I’m not sure if it's an intentional irony that pretty young wife Susanna (Amanda Seyfried) is playing an actress complaining about having to do sex scenes ‘because the director just wants to see her body’ – and the very next moment is involved in a sex scene!

With the occasionally tiresome character build-up out of the way, ‘You Should Have Left’ gets a lot more enjoyable. I’m not sure the Welsh would be too happy with their characterisations here, but the beautiful locations really do lend a sense of isolation, and the house itself is far from traditionally ‘haunted’ in appearance, but its spacious, cold design becomes comfortless quite quickly.

When various other twists are revealed, this steps up another gear, and ultimately, I really enjoyed it. The acting is great throughout, and little Ella (Avery Essex) is very appealing. However, the main twist is unsuccessful because the ‘big’ reveal at the end has been pretty obvious since we first glimpsed the antagonist. My score is 7 out of 10.