This preposterous thriller makes the recent Unforgettable seem plausible. Naomi Watts plays Mary, a child psychologist looking after her paralysed step-son Stephen (Charlie Heaton) in her remote New England home. With a major snow storm forecast, she knows she is about to become shut off from the outside world. But, as the storm nears, she becomes convinced that something is going on in her house.
The premise is fine. There are initial hints of something supernatural at play, and a ghost story, or even one where she is besieged by monsters could have made for passable entertainment. But that isn’t what is at play here, and the big reveal is totally absurd. As I sat, wondering how that could make any logical sense, the film rapidly deteriorated amongst a welter of clichés and ridiculous contrivances.
Watts is still a fine performer, despite some dubious choices in recent years, but she can do nothing with this material, and even Oliver Platt, as a doctor who provides a lot of clumsy exposition, was unable to add any fun. Other story lines and characters – such as Mary’s best friend and her potential love interest are introduced with seemingly no reason, and the film heads to its inevitable predictable violent conclusion.
Rating: 3 out of 10