Movie Review: You Should Have Left (2020)

Synopsis: Theo, a jealous retired banker, and his much-younger actress wife take their daughter to a vacation house in a remote area of Wales. They are plagued by bad nightmares that add additional strain to their already shaky relationship and Theo begins to suspect something is wrong with the house when he discovers it is larger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Who's in it? The movie stars Kevin Bacon, Amanda Seyfried, Avery Essex, Geoff Bell and Lowri-Ann Richards.

Review: I don't remember adding this movie to our Netflix queue, but suspect I did it because my wife is a Kevin Bacon fan. Based on the description of the movie, I figured I wouldn't like it. However, it turned out to be better than expected.

As far as horror movies go, I did think this one lacked scares, partly because some of the "scarier" moments were a bit predictable. I did, however, like the film as a mystery movie.

I think the thing that helps this movie most is Theo (Bacon) himself. It was pretty obvious, from the start, there was something a bit off about him. That, along with the fact his previous wife died under suspicious circumstances, made him a primary suspect throughout. Was the house the problem? Or was he suffering from some sort of psychotic episode similar to Jack in The Shining.

The ending of the movie is a little confusing, but if you pay attention, it does wind up making sense in the end and, as far as "haunted house" movies go, it was a decent way to bring things to a conclusion, though I do feel his wife (Seyfried) got a bit of a pass. It answered the necessary questions and left just enough unanswered to maintain the mystery, something too few movies have figured out.

Final Opinion: It could be a little more scary but, because of the mystery and a decent performance by Kevin Bacon, is still an interesting film.

My Grade: B