The suburban nightmare

Within
English (A) Cast: Erin Moriarty, Jordan Mosley, Blake Jenner, Michael Vartan​, Nadine
Velasquez
Director: Phil Claydon

The horror film genre in America seems to have found a new location to set its nightmares in: the suburbs. The genre, especially in the case of many movies that came out this year, is endlessly fascinated by the locality.

This is perhaps because such a setting provides ample space for the macabre to play out: empty roads, houses spread apart from each other, houses big enough for people (or anything else) to hide comfortably in, while the residents are blissfully oblivious, and much more. ‘Within’ is the latest horror flick to have hit the theatres of Bengaluru. Don’t try Googling it, though: you will hardly find a reference to it online. The movie has not come with the usual bandwagon of advertisements; in fact it does not have even a Wikipedia page.

However, the movie is an exciting watch. It tells the story of a family that has just moved into a new neighbourhood in the suburbs. The father in the family managed to get a house for a very low price. He, however, does not tell his wife and daughter that he got such a deal because there was a murder in the house 10 years ago.

Erin Moriarty plays the role of his daughter, who is having her vacation from college, but has been grounded for getting herself arrested for underage drinking. This means that she will be spending a lot of time at this unpleasant house.

Then begin the curious incidents. The unmistakable presence of some movement, displaced furniture, handprints and sheets being pulled off Erin when she is sleeping.

The audience is drawn into the horror partly because until much later in the movie, it is not revealed as to what the nature of the horror is: if it is human or supernatural. There are also enough twists in the plot to catch the viewer off guard more than a couple of times. Overall, a very satisfying watch! That the whereabouts of the movie is hard to find even on Google is unfortunate,s because movies without half as good a plot get twice as much attention because of the advertisement bandwagon. Don’t let the lack of advertisements come in the way of appreciating a good movie.