by Robert Scocchi
| Published
I told myself a long time ago that I would stop looking for psychological horror films that relied on the “untrustworthy hero” trope. Unfortunately, I didn't read my own diary when I watched last year Hold your breath On Hulu. I can't say I'm mad at myself, but I'm disappointed because I expected something different considering this movie is a period piece set in 1930s Oklahoma after the Dust Bowl took over the once-thriving farmland. Destroyed by the elements.
But make no mistake about the refreshing setting, where all the trappings of tropes can be found Hold your breath:
The film revolves around a grieving mother named Margaret Bellum (Sarah Paulson). Hold your breath is an exercise in numbers exploring the paranoia and grief our heroine experiences as she attempts to fight dark forces intent on taking the lives of her children while her husband, Henry (Bill Heck), works on a construction project in Philadelphia.
Familiar accumulation
Hold your breath Don't waste any time presenting a source of evil that will only make you vaguely question the validity of Margaret's experiences. But if you're well-versed in psychological horror, you'll find yourself sitting with your metaphorical Bingo card as you check off all the boxes that make this film a generic, quasi-supernatural experience.
In a house covered from floor to ceiling in thick layers of dust, Margaret raises her daughters Rose (Amia Miller) and Ollie (Alona Jane Robbins). Distressed by the death of her youngest daughter Ada, Margaret takes prescription sleep medications as a way to prevent her from having sleepwalking episodes after experiencing a psychotic break prior to the events that take place in Hold your breath. At first it seems like Margaret is undergoing a mental health checkup, but that all changes after Rose reads a horror story about a ghoul hiding in dust clouds called “The Gray Man” to Ollie.
Gray man
Knowing that “The Gray Man” is a work of fiction, Margaret writes off the initial concerns in it Hold your breath As a figment of her daughter's overactive imagination after reading the horror story. However, Margaret's imagination gets the best of her, after she hears about a tramp who murdered her neighbors in circumstances that mirror the events depicted in “The Gray Man.”
Shortly after learning of the horrific crime, Margaret finds a drifter hiding in her barn who reveals himself to be a preacher named Wallace (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).
Margaret becomes suspicious of Wallace when the circumstances surrounding his arrival don't quite make sense. Wallace assured Margaret that her husband, Henry, had sent him to check on his family as he passed through Oklahoma Territory. Wallace, who has supernatural healing powers, threatens the Bellum family when his intentions are questioned, which puts Margaret under heavy surveillance for any suspicious behavior.
Margaret stops taking her medication to be more alert, locks up the house, and lives in hiding with her daughters while trying to ward off the evil spirit that now controls her family. With each passing day, Wallace becomes more delirious, and Wallace's presence becomes an evil force within her Hold your breath Which comes and goes as quickly as the dust storms that destroyed crops in previous years. As Margaret becomes increasingly paranoid, the line between fact and fantasy becomes equally blurred as she begins to experience new bouts of sleepwalking.
Solid entry point, but not for experts
Hold your breath It is one of those films that you will want to show to your friends who are interested in psychological matters Thriller moviesbut you have yet to get bored of seeing similar settings appear in other films occupying this subgenre. Featuring supernatural elements that seem to confirm the protagonist's recollection of events, Hold your breath It has a healthy amount of tense moments and jumps that will keep casual viewers on the edge of their seats.
However, more experienced psychological thriller fans will find themselves yawning once things heat up because I guarantee they've seen this familiar story involving an unreliable protagonist play out dozens of times before but in different places.
Hold your breath It is a Hulu original movie, and you can stream it with an active subscription.
