Horror of 2019 / Horror of the 2010's

On one hand, it has many commendably lush, breathtaking scenes in it. In the middle. And being a communal "tale," we get lots of scenes of women bonding until they seem to be the only genuine relief Dani gets since the death of her family.

Did any of this find almost depth? Its entire middle is so good, it just about makes you forget how it started. But the wonderlust does, in fact, wear off when one character dresses in a giant bear suit and you're stuck with Nic Cage flashbacks. (What... the... fuck, Ari? Didn't somebody tell you about that?) And it can't seem to stop focusing on the corpse dummies. They look fake, Ari. Not to mention Ari's entire horror career is rooted in religious sacrifice. It's all mere service to religious sacrifices. A pet niche interest, I truly think it's among the more tawdry distractions offered to today's audiences as opposed to what we need in horror right now. A secure grip on what our current fears and shared nightmares are... Not renaissance fair extremists or secret family headless cults.

I guess that's what you get when you let the dudebros from Hostel plan your vacation. You wind up in a second bad remake of The Wicker Man. Which... it's worth noting, remember that Sneaker Pimps song during the sex scene in Hostel? That has an audio clip from The Wicker Man in it. (Oh yeah, and the lyrics are literally "Willow's Song.")