He’s Out There (2017)

He’s Out There (2017)

I have to admit that I found the suspense unbearable at the beginning, in the first half hour. A bit too much suspense for me, yet always spoiled by a sequence of increasingly incoherent, illogical, irrational events. Such a shame!

The protagonists always do everything they shouldn’t in these films. It’s probably a code we have to follow. But that’s what makes us apathetic and makes us not care what happens to these people, in the end. If they’re stupid enough to make that kind of choice, they wouldn’t last long at the Darwin Awards!

It’s always the same recipes, the same extreme violence, the people who miraculously turn up to help are always killed…
I may come back to this later, unless it no longer seems relevant.

Once you’ve seen two or three Home Invasions, you’ve pretty much seen them all! Panic Room (2002) remains unchallenged for me. It really is the best and most original.

On the other hand, The Collector (2009) is one of the worst. It’s a long way behind Funny Games (1997 & its 2008 remake) and even further behind You’re Next (2011), Blood Lands (2014) or Don’t Breathe (2016). But none of these films are flawless masterpieces in my eyes. He’s Out There (2017) is once again not a good film. To be perfectly frank, my girlfriend once said, ‘This is the kind of story the world least needs!’ And I tend to agree with her. Our world is bad enough. And even if some people are convinced that they can vent their anger with this kind of film, it always creates a new anger… which creates a vicious circle: curing an evil to create another evil!

Yes, I’d be really worried about someone who says they only watch home invasions and that this is their favourite genre. Worse: that it’s the only genre they like!

There are, however, some very interesting things, like the dolls, the book, the statues, the drawings… but we still sink into this unrealism and sadism that makes us lose interest long before the end. The psychopath has the cowardice to attack children or other people from behind… but, once again, we see the courage and strength of a mother. What wouldn’t she do to protect her children?

The mask worn by the sadistic killer doesn’t look like much, but it’s terrifying. It’s not an animal or clown mask this time, but as we can see the criminal’s expressive eyes, it adds a dose of fright.

These films never really end well, so there’s never much hope. And what I look for most in a film is hope.

The children play their roles quite well. And that’s perhaps the originality of the film: the fact that there are some here! The use of these little girls can seem very bad, especially if you can’t stand kids, as this comment shows: ‘As well as being badly used, they’re pretty unbearable…’ Yes, we have a pretty good idea that the reason they’re there is to complicate the situation even further, because otherwise Laura would be trying her luck long before this.

No cops this time either! As for Yvonne Strahovski, she’s well known in the cinema for her sculptural body, which she shows off once again for a few seconds. You might as well make the most of it when you’re lucky enough to have a physique or metabolism like that. But many people probably remember her most from series like Chuck or 24 (24 Heures chrono) or The Handmaid’s Tale. Quite a good performance from this lead actress, but she’s often in bad films, it seems to me, if I’m going by this one, Manhattan Nocturne (2016) or The Predator (2018).

Here’s a very short review: “Even if this film is full of clichés, it’s effective and will startle you. I just deplore a lack of explanation and originality.”
In a home invasion, there are always one or more masked criminals, and each film tries to add its own little touch. Here, there’s only one, and in Funny Games, they’re not masked!
But we’ll often find these elements: most people die, except for one main character who is left for dead, but who suddenly comes back! He will simply have been kidnapped and/or tortured before miraculously freeing himself. There’s also that ridiculous jump scare at the end of most horror films. What’s even more pathetic is that, although there are some sequel jolts, they’re never taken into account, like in ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’, for example.

To conclude and sum up:

A very basic home-invasion that works quite well if you like the genre (which I don’t!) and aren’t too fussy. Quinn Lasher (director) and Mike Scannell (screenwriter) – whose first film this is – make do with the minimum in every respect. An isolated house, a helpless mother with her daughters and a killer who plays on their nerves, taking his time before carrying out his deed. It’s a classic film, but an entertaining one, thanks to a steady pace, a good atmosphere and some fairly violent moments. It’s a shame, though, that the script is so lacking in research, even less than usual, and that it quickly goes round in circles. That’s what sinks the whole film. It lacks confrontations and twists to make the situation even more stressful.

In the end, it’s barely entertaining, despite the polished visuals.