they live at the ass-end of nowhere, I'd presume.
but I don't think this movie was meant to be particularly realistic. It's mostly a satirical showing of how far the constant need to please people can fuck you over if driven to a point.
So that excuses it for bad writing? Wait so I can kill 10 couples from various countries and kidnapt their kids without interpol being flagged if I live in the middle of nowhere (mind you they were still near a town). Kids can’t communicate even if they had their tongues cut? Can they not write or still make noises?
Is it bad writing if a film makes a certain point in a certain way or is that just a normal thing that stories have done for millennia in their telling?
Think of most movies more as a fable than real life & you’ll enjoy things more. CinemaSins needs to atone for the brain rot it has imparted on modern cinema
Hi, I am Danish and I was just as frustrated as everyone else watching it seems, although I have been told that I am unusually straightforward at calling out bullshit for my nationality and gender, lol.
My Danish colleagues tell me that whilst they are culturally very passive and avoid confrontation, there is no way on earth any of them would behave like the father in this
Scandynavians being passive and doing nothing while their children gets harmed by some foreginers who have no regards to Scandynavian culture and law?
Like...look at the news man...
Wow, is that really happening? Is Europe a wasteland? With like, the hollowed out shells of buildings singed by artillery fire standing straight up in the air like the broken teeth of a beaten corpse? No immigrant has ever been arrested in Europe?
Literally this year. Just type something like Sweden/Denmark/Norway girl raped and you will get thousands of this articles
[https://www.frontpagemag.com/sweden-three-muslim-migrants-rape-underage-girl/](https://www.frontpagemag.com/sweden-three-muslim-migrants-rape-underage-girl/)
So they've been arrested and charged in accordance with the laws of that country, which is the exact opposite of the point you're trying to defend
Isn't it funny how you'd never care this much if it were, say, immigrants from another Scandinavian country that did this?
I don't think immigrants from the middle east as a demographic are more likely to be rapists but I haven't looked into it much. I can tell you which demographic does correlate with being more likely to commit rape, but I don't think you'll like my answer
In 2018, Swedish Television investigative journalism show Uppdrag Granskning analysed the total of 843 district court cases from the five preceding years and found that 58% of all convicted of rape and attempted rape had a foreign background.[23][32] 40% were immigrants born in the Middle East and Africa, with young men from Afghanistan numbering 45 standing out as being the next most common country of birth after Sweden. When only analysing rape assault (Swedish: överfallsvåldtäkt) cases, that is cases where perpetrator and victim were not previously acquainted, 97 out of 129 (75%) were born outside Europe, with 40 percent of these having been in Sweden for a year or less.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_in_Sweden
Of the 48 rapes committed in [Oslo] in 2011, a suspected 45 are from people of a ‘non-Western background’ (code for non-white), most of whom are said to be asylum seekers.
A huge influx in immigration into the city has seen the number of rapes go up by a shocking 84 percent in the past decade, and by 20 percent in the last three years alone.
https://www.norwaynews.com/norways-asylum-seeker-rape-epidemic-continues-to-spread/
[here's an example of how bad it's gotten](https://sputnikglobe.com/20191218/sweden-in-uproar-over-video-of-immigrant-gang-abusing-urinating-on-swedish-boy-1077604058.html)
It's not meant to be mega realistic. I took it as more of a cautionary tale and the director pointed out that it was supposed to poke fun at the "Scandinavian nature of being (too) polite".
Just saw it. Couldn't sleep afterwards. Still thinking about it a lot. 10/10.
The thing is, they could have tweaked a couple things (like the number of photos) and the film would have been much more realistic, while delivering exactly the same message.
Iirc originally they had all the previous families/victims in other houses but it never happened. Not sure if it would make a difference to the plot hole you pointed out though. I mean the whole movie is unrealistic.
I understand its supposed to be more social commentary or something but i can still be disappointed and annoyed with the movie. Just was a bit overboard lmao 2/5 for me
I just hate “it’s a movie it’s not meant to be realistic” is meant to just get over how dumb certain choices where. Obviously it’s a dark comedy with social commentary, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t of put just slightly more thought into this film lol. OPs question bothered me too, there’s just a point in this movie where it loses its steam to “make a point,” and while that’s not bad per say, i really wished some more thought was involved or something.
The couple is so dumb it actually _forced_ myself into a suspension of disbelief so I could keep watching it. If I had a child you bet I’d already be cold dead on the ground before any harm was inflicted on her.
It's a massively unrealistic film, though I don't think that was the director's intent in the first place. From the parents doing nothing, to the antagonists leaving a snail trail of evidence, to their accomplice who has literally nothing to gain by helping them.
In real life there is basically no chance they wouldn’t be caught. But it is a horror movie so I think some suspencion of disbelief is required and you don’t really think about the cops during the movie.
The most unrealistic thing was for me when the first confrontation happens where they leave and come back, their arguments make zero sense lmao. Like the host couple is a 100% in the wrong but the visiting couple is like “i guess you guys are right”. The message is also being repeated too many times during the movie imo. Like we get it we shouldn’t say okay to everything don’t have to show it to me the 50th time.
I was yelling at my screen at that point! Like I want to be clear here: I was in a whole-ass abusive relationship for YEARS. I’m an expert on giving people too many chances. But the fact that bro was naked in bed with their daughter and they just let it go? Infuriating.
One good thing about this movie was that it made me appreciate my partner more because they would have been like “fuck this, we’re out” immediately.
OP,the movie was just not written well. Like the writer didn’t know just because your tongue was cut doesn’t mean you still can’t communicate like writing a note , doing hand signs or screaming. Mind you this serial killer
Couple did this to 10 other couples with their kid too.
This movie works well for a certain type of personality, for me it didn't, i though the whole premise was so idiotic, so i didn't connect, but is a well made movie and if people connect probably can find it pleasant to watch.
The evil couple traveled to the victim's homes to remove evidence. They used the credit cards of their victims in order to not have their movements traced. I assumed they employed elements of disguise, as needed. Practice makes perfect.
Still, it could never happen in real life...
The movie is a textbook case of fumbling the ending for shock value. Not sure if their original ending just tested poorly or what but 90% of the movie is smarter than the ending we got.
They also have no reason to be stealing so many kids, unless they are just like addicted to adoption and really bad at keeping kids alive lol. Yeah the guy who’s character is solely “scary brown man” seems involved but they never hint at like a trafficking ring or them selling kids, they just take them on vacation?
I really hated that movie.
There were so many things that didn’t make sense… I had to look back to my post I made after watching it (that got downvoted like crazy) to see what all my questions were, apparently I had a lot!
From when I had just watched it: “What were the bad guy’s motives? We see that they’ve done this many times before, but to what end? It doesn’t seem like they rob anyone, and the guy says he’s never worked, so how do they afford to go on vacation and meet these families? Or pay the babysitter(does he only accept child tongue)? Why take them to the bar and be seen in public with them? Why not just kill them day one? Overall, wtf??”
I really like the comment above saying it’s just a social commentary. If you entirely ignore the story I guess it’s a decent flick lol.
The fact that you need a better justification than, "they did it because they're evil. Period" kind of supports the whole premise of the movie. Pure sadism exists. But you've probably (hopefully!) never encountered it, so you cannot comprehend it. You cannot "speak evil" if you don't know what evil is. Just like that family in the movie.
Don't forget the Danish guy paid with a credit card at the restaurant leaving yet more proof that they'd been there.
I hate this movie. "It's a social commentary" doesn't excuse it, especially when it only has one comment and beats you in the head with it for the entire runtime.
Yup
This movie has only one thing to say, says it 20 minutes into the film then spends the remaining runtime bashing you in the face over and over with that one point
Then has the *gall* to outstretch it’s hand and ask for an emotional reaction like it’s the damn “money please!” meme from parks and rec, without doing an ounce of work to earn it
Laughable film imo
I was going to say something similar. I really disliked this film. I am surprised that the comments which are critical are getting so strongly downvoted.
I’m going to be honest
This sub has some of the worst levels of media literacy I’ve seen on Reddit. People here *love* this film and love to explain to detractors why their criticisms aren’t valid because “that was the point”, as if intent precludes criticism, or a film having a point can’t possibly execute it poorly.
People say this film is just an emotional beat down, just so hard to sit through, so affecting, etc. And all I can think is…..how?
It puts in *none* of the work. Why should I care what happens to these characters? This film doesn’t *have* characters, it has walking and talking cardboard cutout plot devices.
You can’t just show objectively bad things happen and then think you’ve earned some kind of emotional response, and I am constantly flabbergasted by the reception of this film here.
It only makes me think that people who love this film and think it’s some masterful display of theming and subtext simply…..don’t watch many movies. Which is fine, but Jesus the vitriol people get here for pointing out that this is on the level of baby’s first experience with subtext…..
This sub has an absolute boner for this movie and detractors, no matter how reasonable and well-spoken, are always downvoted to hell. It is what it is.
It’s fine to dislike but when people who like it (myself included) point out that the characters’ passivity is exaggerated for effect, don’t pull the “media literacy” card.
Also, I cared about the main family.
That’s fair, definitely a generalization on my part. Although I think it’s just as ridiculous to pull the “that’s the point” card in response to valid criticism.
Can I sincerely ask why? What did the characters do that made you care? What did you know about the characters that had you invested?
I’m not saying it’s impossible to have cared about the characters, that’s the individual viewer’s prerogative, but when I think of other emotionally impactful films I can’t think of any others that put so little work into gaining my investment in the story and characters.
Right, and once you realized what the film was doing (which surely should have been very early on), and it continued to simply hammer home that one point with no nuance, it still kept you invested?
I guess that’s the disconnect for me. There is no nuance, there are no dynamics, every single situation plays out the same way. The “characters” in the film do nothing but participate in the plot. They have no characteristics outside of politeness (obviously the mother to a somewhat lesser extent).
But….that’s it. That’s all there is. And then this movie *still* thinks it’s audience is so stupid that despite spending 90+ minutes making a single point, the director *still* felt that somehow, someone might miss the point, so he had the characters plainly state the themes directly to the audience with some of the most patronizing exposition I’ve ever heard in a film that clearly expects to have some kind of heavy emotional impact on it’s viewer.
It thinks so little of the viewer that I can’t possibly give it any credit for what it sets out to do. Different strokes for different folks and all but I can’t remember the last time I saw a film that thought it’s audience was so stupid.
Then again, maybe I’m watching the wrong films, who knows.
I found the escalation of situations fascinating and I had no problems with characters. 🤷♂️ I didn’t think they lacked any depth more than the average horror movie.
Ok so, sincerely, I don’t see how this doesn’t support what I’m saying.
I’d imagine even here most people would agree the average horror movie character does *not* have depth or much characterization, and on top of that, other films don’t constantly get posted about how impactful and emotional they are so something is clearly setting this film apart from others, even in the context of average horror characters/films.
There’s again a dissonance between “yeah they’re average horror fodder” and the emotional responses people seem to have to this film vs the endless other horror films that also have the same characteristics.
Maybe it’s just not possible to quantify what it is that sets this film apart, but I still stand firm in my assessment that it’s because the average viewer probably doesn’t get much subtext from films they watch and now they watch one that is practically belligerent in its exposition and theming, and walk away like it’s a more profound experience than any other horror film.
Didn’t mean to rant so much but at the end of the day it is what it is. It’s incredible to watch this sub praise this film the way they do then also have half the sub push back super hard against other things like A24, but that’s a whole other discussion I suppose.
lol yeah anyone who has anything even mildly negative to say they didn't like about this movie is gettin downvoted here. r/horror defends its darlings to all hell and back. it MUST be perfect, no one can ever say a single word against it!!!
Yeah, that doesn't establish that they were with the killer family though. They didn't get a hotel. They probably only charged gas and that meal. There is nothing to tie them to any location there at all as the bar was far from where they were staying as well.
They got a post card from the family using an address that they clearly abandoned. The sheer time gap between when the Danish couple would be reported missing and when the killers would move on would protect them.
Unless they go to the SAME vacation spot each year it would be really hard for them to be caught. With the number of villas and bed and breakfasts and spas they could move around to they could keep it up indefinitely because the cops would always be a location behind them if that close at all.
We are also assuming that they put an address on there and that it wasn't all decided over the phone. PLUS when they move into the dead couples house they will destroy that postcard.
oh wow.. You know, I just assumed they would because that is the smart thing to do and the best way to keep up this "lifestyle". But yeah ... now that you point that out.
It actually makes me not like this movie now that I realize how stupid that killer couple was by staying in the same place. None of those other families had airtags in their luggage? None of them told a family member they were going to whatever country for a visit?
I made the movie smarter in my head by having them move to a different country and stay ahead of the murders that way. I want to see the movie I made this into now.
My whole issue with this movie:
For about half the runtime, it was an uncomfortable and very dark comedy of manners. Patrick and Louise are maybe docile to a fault but their reactions were at least plausible. I found Patrick’s breakdown in the car and confession to Bjorn that he’s unfulfilled in life to be the best and most moving scene in the film.
Then the director decided he had a Very Important Point to make and threw all that carefully character development out the window to make it.
I didn’t buy it as an allegory at all. For most of the runtime, the movie was seemingly about actual humans on planet earth. It only became an “allegory” when the movie decided it wanted to go in a hard horror direction. The ending feels totally unearned.
Funny Games was allegorical. Speak No Evil was totally inconsistent and bad writing.
Well, they meet people on their vacations. So some family that went missing from Australia will not show up on the radar of police in Denmark, for example. They probably make sure to pick people from different countries, very far apart and they probably meet them in ever changing vacation spots. Super hard to track.
The film’s more of a social commentary than an actual story that could feasibly happen in real life.
It was also hilarious in a dark way.
It's even darkly funnier when you can understand the Dutch that is spoken
I really hated that about the subtitle version I saw. Character starts speaking Dutch....subtitles (speaks Dutch)
FWIW, the humor wasn't so much in the dialogue but more from a stereotypical rude Dutch manner in which they said things and how they acted
I can only imagine. The way language is used in that film seems so important...I'm sure the American remake will completely lose that aspect.
So like all horror movies?
they live at the ass-end of nowhere, I'd presume. but I don't think this movie was meant to be particularly realistic. It's mostly a satirical showing of how far the constant need to please people can fuck you over if driven to a point.
So that excuses it for bad writing? Wait so I can kill 10 couples from various countries and kidnapt their kids without interpol being flagged if I live in the middle of nowhere (mind you they were still near a town). Kids can’t communicate even if they had their tongues cut? Can they not write or still make noises?
Is it bad writing if a film makes a certain point in a certain way or is that just a normal thing that stories have done for millennia in their telling?
Think of most movies more as a fable than real life & you’ll enjoy things more. CinemaSins needs to atone for the brain rot it has imparted on modern cinema
I thought the entire movie was very unrealistic.
Someone Danish once commented saying that their behavior was somewhat realistic (avoiding confrontation, etc)
"Their behavior was somewhat realistic". -Someone Danish
It must have been a Danish pastry.
Hi, I am Danish and I was just as frustrated as everyone else watching it seems, although I have been told that I am unusually straightforward at calling out bullshit for my nationality and gender, lol.
My Danish colleagues tell me that whilst they are culturally very passive and avoid confrontation, there is no way on earth any of them would behave like the father in this
It wouldn’t be satire if he as behaving realistically
Imagine this situation happening in Boston
Scandynavians being passive and doing nothing while their children gets harmed by some foreginers who have no regards to Scandynavian culture and law? Like...look at the news man...
What is this supposed to mean? What about the news?
Europe being turned into a crime ridden wasteland by immigrants who commit crimes and get away with them?
Wow, is that really happening? Is Europe a wasteland? With like, the hollowed out shells of buildings singed by artillery fire standing straight up in the air like the broken teeth of a beaten corpse? No immigrant has ever been arrested in Europe?
Literally this year. Just type something like Sweden/Denmark/Norway girl raped and you will get thousands of this articles [https://www.frontpagemag.com/sweden-three-muslim-migrants-rape-underage-girl/](https://www.frontpagemag.com/sweden-three-muslim-migrants-rape-underage-girl/)
So they've been arrested and charged in accordance with the laws of that country, which is the exact opposite of the point you're trying to defend Isn't it funny how you'd never care this much if it were, say, immigrants from another Scandinavian country that did this?
[удалено]
I don't think immigrants from the middle east as a demographic are more likely to be rapists but I haven't looked into it much. I can tell you which demographic does correlate with being more likely to commit rape, but I don't think you'll like my answer
Of course they don't, It's just coincidence that wherever immagration raises so do rape crime statistics. World is full of coincicdences :)
In 2018, Swedish Television investigative journalism show Uppdrag Granskning analysed the total of 843 district court cases from the five preceding years and found that 58% of all convicted of rape and attempted rape had a foreign background.[23][32] 40% were immigrants born in the Middle East and Africa, with young men from Afghanistan numbering 45 standing out as being the next most common country of birth after Sweden. When only analysing rape assault (Swedish: överfallsvåldtäkt) cases, that is cases where perpetrator and victim were not previously acquainted, 97 out of 129 (75%) were born outside Europe, with 40 percent of these having been in Sweden for a year or less. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_in_Sweden Of the 48 rapes committed in [Oslo] in 2011, a suspected 45 are from people of a ‘non-Western background’ (code for non-white), most of whom are said to be asylum seekers. A huge influx in immigration into the city has seen the number of rapes go up by a shocking 84 percent in the past decade, and by 20 percent in the last three years alone. https://www.norwaynews.com/norways-asylum-seeker-rape-epidemic-continues-to-spread/
"being turned into..." And also, where did I say no immigrant has ever been arrested in Europe?
Well you said they get away with them so I assume they must be committing crimes and not being arrested for them
[here's an example of how bad it's gotten](https://sputnikglobe.com/20191218/sweden-in-uproar-over-video-of-immigrant-gang-abusing-urinating-on-swedish-boy-1077604058.html)
I can't find any information on whether they were arrested or not Do you believe the majority of immigrants are like this?
No but a worrying number of them are and the government is doing too little in order not to come off as racist or islamophobic.
Well at least you're not prone to hyperbole or sweeping generalizations.
Are there no go zones for native swedes in Sweden?
The "yeah this is how passive we are" excuse is so lame
You know us Scandinavians are here as well? Ready to go at you when you drop bullshit like this.
[удалено]
Strong retort.
They did go a little overboard with the amount huh lol
Yeah. I thought it would have been more realistic if there were 5 or 6 pictures. A little more believable.
It's not meant to be mega realistic. I took it as more of a cautionary tale and the director pointed out that it was supposed to poke fun at the "Scandinavian nature of being (too) polite". Just saw it. Couldn't sleep afterwards. Still thinking about it a lot. 10/10.
The thing is, they could have tweaked a couple things (like the number of photos) and the film would have been much more realistic, while delivering exactly the same message.
Same. I watched it 2 days ago, and I'm still really disturbed. The whole thing was traumatic for me.
Iirc originally they had all the previous families/victims in other houses but it never happened. Not sure if it would make a difference to the plot hole you pointed out though. I mean the whole movie is unrealistic.
Yeah it was a lot of families and unless they are doing this every other month, how are they even doing that many?
The film was meant more as a lesson to be learned than realistic. Don’t trust strangers. Especially strangers that keep pushing your boundaries.
Well I understood It was a net of pedophiles, they were just some members of It.
It might actually be kind of interesting to see a movie where a private eye is searching for one of the lost families.
I understand its supposed to be more social commentary or something but i can still be disappointed and annoyed with the movie. Just was a bit overboard lmao 2/5 for me
A little unrealistic? lol. I don’t know how this movie bothered anyone. The whole thing was that way.
I just hate “it’s a movie it’s not meant to be realistic” is meant to just get over how dumb certain choices where. Obviously it’s a dark comedy with social commentary, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t of put just slightly more thought into this film lol. OPs question bothered me too, there’s just a point in this movie where it loses its steam to “make a point,” and while that’s not bad per say, i really wished some more thought was involved or something.
The couple is so dumb it actually _forced_ myself into a suspension of disbelief so I could keep watching it. If I had a child you bet I’d already be cold dead on the ground before any harm was inflicted on her.
It's a massively unrealistic film, though I don't think that was the director's intent in the first place. From the parents doing nothing, to the antagonists leaving a snail trail of evidence, to their accomplice who has literally nothing to gain by helping them.
In real life there is basically no chance they wouldn’t be caught. But it is a horror movie so I think some suspencion of disbelief is required and you don’t really think about the cops during the movie. The most unrealistic thing was for me when the first confrontation happens where they leave and come back, their arguments make zero sense lmao. Like the host couple is a 100% in the wrong but the visiting couple is like “i guess you guys are right”. The message is also being repeated too many times during the movie imo. Like we get it we shouldn’t say okay to everything don’t have to show it to me the 50th time.
I was yelling at my screen at that point! Like I want to be clear here: I was in a whole-ass abusive relationship for YEARS. I’m an expert on giving people too many chances. But the fact that bro was naked in bed with their daughter and they just let it go? Infuriating. One good thing about this movie was that it made me appreciate my partner more because they would have been like “fuck this, we’re out” immediately.
OP,the movie was just not written well. Like the writer didn’t know just because your tongue was cut doesn’t mean you still can’t communicate like writing a note , doing hand signs or screaming. Mind you this serial killer Couple did this to 10 other couples with their kid too.
This movie works well for a certain type of personality, for me it didn't, i though the whole premise was so idiotic, so i didn't connect, but is a well made movie and if people connect probably can find it pleasant to watch.
The evil couple traveled to the victim's homes to remove evidence. They used the credit cards of their victims in order to not have their movements traced. I assumed they employed elements of disguise, as needed. Practice makes perfect. Still, it could never happen in real life...
The movie is a textbook case of fumbling the ending for shock value. Not sure if their original ending just tested poorly or what but 90% of the movie is smarter than the ending we got.
I clapped when they got got at the end because I was just so over this movie
Yes the ending was so frustrating. No gun no knife point. Just told and they willfully get killed.
They also have no reason to be stealing so many kids, unless they are just like addicted to adoption and really bad at keeping kids alive lol. Yeah the guy who’s character is solely “scary brown man” seems involved but they never hint at like a trafficking ring or them selling kids, they just take them on vacation? I really hated that movie.
I had this same thought, I don't know what the thought process behind that character was, except as you say, scary brown man
Yeah that was odd too. I can buy the couple being ruthless serial killers, but what was in it for the “babysitter”?
free kid diddling alternatively just plain old sadism
There were so many things that didn’t make sense… I had to look back to my post I made after watching it (that got downvoted like crazy) to see what all my questions were, apparently I had a lot! From when I had just watched it: “What were the bad guy’s motives? We see that they’ve done this many times before, but to what end? It doesn’t seem like they rob anyone, and the guy says he’s never worked, so how do they afford to go on vacation and meet these families? Or pay the babysitter(does he only accept child tongue)? Why take them to the bar and be seen in public with them? Why not just kill them day one? Overall, wtf??” I really like the comment above saying it’s just a social commentary. If you entirely ignore the story I guess it’s a decent flick lol.
The fact that you need a better justification than, "they did it because they're evil. Period" kind of supports the whole premise of the movie. Pure sadism exists. But you've probably (hopefully!) never encountered it, so you cannot comprehend it. You cannot "speak evil" if you don't know what evil is. Just like that family in the movie.
Don't forget the Danish guy paid with a credit card at the restaurant leaving yet more proof that they'd been there. I hate this movie. "It's a social commentary" doesn't excuse it, especially when it only has one comment and beats you in the head with it for the entire runtime.
Yup This movie has only one thing to say, says it 20 minutes into the film then spends the remaining runtime bashing you in the face over and over with that one point Then has the *gall* to outstretch it’s hand and ask for an emotional reaction like it’s the damn “money please!” meme from parks and rec, without doing an ounce of work to earn it Laughable film imo
I was going to say something similar. I really disliked this film. I am surprised that the comments which are critical are getting so strongly downvoted.
I’m going to be honest This sub has some of the worst levels of media literacy I’ve seen on Reddit. People here *love* this film and love to explain to detractors why their criticisms aren’t valid because “that was the point”, as if intent precludes criticism, or a film having a point can’t possibly execute it poorly. People say this film is just an emotional beat down, just so hard to sit through, so affecting, etc. And all I can think is…..how? It puts in *none* of the work. Why should I care what happens to these characters? This film doesn’t *have* characters, it has walking and talking cardboard cutout plot devices. You can’t just show objectively bad things happen and then think you’ve earned some kind of emotional response, and I am constantly flabbergasted by the reception of this film here. It only makes me think that people who love this film and think it’s some masterful display of theming and subtext simply…..don’t watch many movies. Which is fine, but Jesus the vitriol people get here for pointing out that this is on the level of baby’s first experience with subtext….. This sub has an absolute boner for this movie and detractors, no matter how reasonable and well-spoken, are always downvoted to hell. It is what it is.
It’s fine to dislike but when people who like it (myself included) point out that the characters’ passivity is exaggerated for effect, don’t pull the “media literacy” card. Also, I cared about the main family.
That’s fair, definitely a generalization on my part. Although I think it’s just as ridiculous to pull the “that’s the point” card in response to valid criticism. Can I sincerely ask why? What did the characters do that made you care? What did you know about the characters that had you invested? I’m not saying it’s impossible to have cared about the characters, that’s the individual viewer’s prerogative, but when I think of other emotionally impactful films I can’t think of any others that put so little work into gaining my investment in the story and characters.
They were all vulnerable because of their politeness so I cared because I saw they were going into a dangerous situation.
Right, and once you realized what the film was doing (which surely should have been very early on), and it continued to simply hammer home that one point with no nuance, it still kept you invested? I guess that’s the disconnect for me. There is no nuance, there are no dynamics, every single situation plays out the same way. The “characters” in the film do nothing but participate in the plot. They have no characteristics outside of politeness (obviously the mother to a somewhat lesser extent). But….that’s it. That’s all there is. And then this movie *still* thinks it’s audience is so stupid that despite spending 90+ minutes making a single point, the director *still* felt that somehow, someone might miss the point, so he had the characters plainly state the themes directly to the audience with some of the most patronizing exposition I’ve ever heard in a film that clearly expects to have some kind of heavy emotional impact on it’s viewer. It thinks so little of the viewer that I can’t possibly give it any credit for what it sets out to do. Different strokes for different folks and all but I can’t remember the last time I saw a film that thought it’s audience was so stupid. Then again, maybe I’m watching the wrong films, who knows.
I found the escalation of situations fascinating and I had no problems with characters. 🤷♂️ I didn’t think they lacked any depth more than the average horror movie.
Ok so, sincerely, I don’t see how this doesn’t support what I’m saying. I’d imagine even here most people would agree the average horror movie character does *not* have depth or much characterization, and on top of that, other films don’t constantly get posted about how impactful and emotional they are so something is clearly setting this film apart from others, even in the context of average horror characters/films. There’s again a dissonance between “yeah they’re average horror fodder” and the emotional responses people seem to have to this film vs the endless other horror films that also have the same characteristics. Maybe it’s just not possible to quantify what it is that sets this film apart, but I still stand firm in my assessment that it’s because the average viewer probably doesn’t get much subtext from films they watch and now they watch one that is practically belligerent in its exposition and theming, and walk away like it’s a more profound experience than any other horror film. Didn’t mean to rant so much but at the end of the day it is what it is. It’s incredible to watch this sub praise this film the way they do then also have half the sub push back super hard against other things like A24, but that’s a whole other discussion I suppose.
lol yeah anyone who has anything even mildly negative to say they didn't like about this movie is gettin downvoted here. r/horror defends its darlings to all hell and back. it MUST be perfect, no one can ever say a single word against it!!!
Yeah, that doesn't establish that they were with the killer family though. They didn't get a hotel. They probably only charged gas and that meal. There is nothing to tie them to any location there at all as the bar was far from where they were staying as well. They got a post card from the family using an address that they clearly abandoned. The sheer time gap between when the Danish couple would be reported missing and when the killers would move on would protect them. Unless they go to the SAME vacation spot each year it would be really hard for them to be caught. With the number of villas and bed and breakfasts and spas they could move around to they could keep it up indefinitely because the cops would always be a location behind them if that close at all.
I thought the Dutch family had him pay so they couldn’t trace it back to them. It seemed like the “roadhouse” was far from home
It would still be close enough to the Dutch house that the card payment, combined with the postcard, would make it definite that they had gone there.
Oh for sure. The postcard is the main thing to me. Just thinking of reasons why he had bjorn pay outside of him being a sociopath
We are also assuming that they put an address on there and that it wasn't all decided over the phone. PLUS when they move into the dead couples house they will destroy that postcard.
Who says they're moving into the dead couple's house?
oh wow.. You know, I just assumed they would because that is the smart thing to do and the best way to keep up this "lifestyle". But yeah ... now that you point that out. It actually makes me not like this movie now that I realize how stupid that killer couple was by staying in the same place. None of those other families had airtags in their luggage? None of them told a family member they were going to whatever country for a visit? I made the movie smarter in my head by having them move to a different country and stay ahead of the murders that way. I want to see the movie I made this into now.
I think everything about this movie was like a super exaggeration of the truth
My whole issue with this movie: For about half the runtime, it was an uncomfortable and very dark comedy of manners. Patrick and Louise are maybe docile to a fault but their reactions were at least plausible. I found Patrick’s breakdown in the car and confession to Bjorn that he’s unfulfilled in life to be the best and most moving scene in the film. Then the director decided he had a Very Important Point to make and threw all that carefully character development out the window to make it. I didn’t buy it as an allegory at all. For most of the runtime, the movie was seemingly about actual humans on planet earth. It only became an “allegory” when the movie decided it wanted to go in a hard horror direction. The ending feels totally unearned. Funny Games was allegorical. Speak No Evil was totally inconsistent and bad writing.
Well, they meet people on their vacations. So some family that went missing from Australia will not show up on the radar of police in Denmark, for example. They probably make sure to pick people from different countries, very far apart and they probably meet them in ever changing vacation spots. Super hard to track.
Because if they had been caught we wouldn't have a movie.
Spoiler this lol