🐌 Slow Horror 🐌 | 💎 Slightly Hidden Horror Gem #114 | 2012

I loved Entrance but was unsure if I could recommend it to others, so I watched it twice in a row to decide.

Then I realized I had watched it twice in a row and loved it each time.

In truth I liked the second watch more than the first, and it is the first sixty minutes that I find really fascinating. There is so much there to pick up on a rewatch that just can't be noticed the first time through but that has an affect on your experience, and there are a series of subtle feints and misdirections that you will miss the first pass through if you go into it blind.

Entrance is best viewed as nuanced dread-inducing psychological horror based in the mundane. I don't mean it's giving a profound message because I'm not sure what the message would be and I hope they weren't trying because there is no good message here except the message in the blurb, and a blurb works for it.

No, what was actually good was the sequence of small terrors that built up in the protagonist's life. They are realistic, normal-life-scale terrors. I've felt these things. Most people have. If you can access that experience represented in dramatic form this will work for you.

Despite my uncertainty, in retrospect I just experienced two great hours from the same material. I was full of looming dread within the first ten minutes and it did not let up and I found this subtle and fascinating because films with a massive budget can fail at that, and so can low-budget indie films—they almost always do in fact. Here is an exception—a very very low budget indie film that worked. Come for that and you will not be disappointed. You will love it or you will stop watching.

I hope that this subtle film doesn't seem mumblecore boring to you, but I totally get it if it does—please do not try to enjoy this if you don't. Otherwise, strong recommendation to watch. At least if you finish the film you're not going to forget it.

📽️ Viewing Next
💎 Slightly Hidden Horror Gems I 2012
🌱 Hidden Horror Candidates
🗂️ Index of Lists

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