Written by Robert Scucci | Published
I told myself a long time ago that I would stop looking for psychological horror films that depend on the “unreliable protagonist” trope. Unfortunately, I didn’t read my memo when I looked at last year’s Hold Your Breath on Hulu. I wouldn’t say I’m mad at myself, but I’m disappointed that I expected something different because this movie is a period piece set in 1930 Oklahoma after the Dust Bowl took over the once prosperous farms. reduced nutrients.
But make no mistake about the refreshing setting, as all the tropey trappings can be found in it Hold Your Breath:
It centers on a grieving mother named Margaret Bellum (Sarah Paulson), Hold Your Breath is a work of few values in exploring the paranoia and sadness of our main character as she tries to fight the dark forces that intend to take the lives of her children while her husband, Henry (Bill Heck), works on a construction project in Philadelphia.
General Structure
Hold Your Breath it wastes no time introducing a source of evil that will make you question the validity of Margaret’s experience. But if you’re well-versed in psychological horror, you’ll find yourself sitting with your Bingo card of tropes as you check all the boxes that make this film another ordinary, supernatural experience.
In a house covered from floor to ceiling with stubborn dust, Margaret is raising her two daughters, Rose (Amiah Miller) and Ollie (Alona Jane Robbins). Grief-stricken after the death of her young daughter, Ada, Margaret takes the prescribed sleeping pills as a way to prevent her from falling asleep after taking a mental break before the events. Hold Your Breath. At first it seems that Margaret is in a good mental state, but that all changes after Rose learns a scary story about a ghost hiding in the dust called “The Gray Man” from Ollie.
The Man in Gray
Knowing that the “Man in Gray” is a myth, Margaret writes down the first horrors Hold Your Breath as a representation of her daughter’s busy thoughts after reading a scary story. Margaret’s imagination cheers her up, however, after hearing about a swindler who killed her neighbors under circumstances that mirror the events depicted in “The Gray Man.”
Shortly after hearing about the horrific crime, Margaret finds a cab driver hiding in her barn who reveals himself to be a preacher named Wallace (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).
Margaret becomes suspicious of Wallace when the circumstances surrounding his arrival do not add up. Wallace assures Margaret that her husband, Henry, sent her to check on her family as he passed through Oklahoma. Wallace, who has supernatural healing powers, threatens the Bellum family when his intentions are questioned, putting Margaret on the lookout for any suspicious behavior.
Margaret stops taking her medication in order to be more careful, closes the house, and stays in hiding with her daughters as she tries to banish the evil spirit that now grips her family. As he becomes busier with each passing day, Wallace’s presence becomes a force for evil Hold Your Breath which come and go as quickly as the dust storms that have destroyed crops over the years. As Margaret becomes increasingly paranoid, the line between reality and fiction becomes increasingly blurred as she begins to experience new episodes of sleep.
A Strong Entry Point, But Not for the Inexperienced
Hold Your Breath it’s one of those movies you’ll want to show to your friends who like psychological thrillers, but aren’t bothered by watching the same scenes play out in other films that play a subgenre. Boasting of supernatural things that seem to confirm the memory of our character’s events, Hold Your Breath it has a healthy number of tense moments and jump cuts that will keep casual viewers on the edge of their seats.
The seasoned psychological aficionado, however, will find themselves yawning when things start to heat up because I’m sure they’ve seen this familiar story involving an unscrupulous character play out many times before but in different settings.
Hold Your Breath is a Hulu original movie, and you can stream it with an active subscription.
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