Samhain Project 2: We Need to Do Something

 

Jason Blum would have loved the conceit of We Need to Do Something because 90 percent of the film takes place in a bathroom.   Cheap.

A basic idea on the surface.  But a storm arises, pushing an upper middle class family into a loo which they feel is the safest place in their house under these circumstances.  Then they're trapped by a tree that stops the door from being able to open.  

Maybe they're protected from outside elements, the film hints.  Is that really a storm out there?  Or something else in its aftermath. There's reasons to think either way. 

Hell if I know.

You have a family of 4 led by Pat Healy and Vinessa Shaw, and their teen daughter and young son.  Healy will be recognizable from great performances in Ti West's The Innkeepers, and top notch fare like TV's Hap & Leonard and the terrific Compliance.  Ms. Shaw was great in Ray Donovan and Cold in July, and a large pallette of other screen and television work.  

Beyond the surface issues, there is something else wrong here.  The daughter is giving hints through her texts, chattering, and flashbacks that this storm is more than just meteorological.  Dad's losing it, (evidenced by one of the greatest temper fits ever filmed next to Paul Rudd's in The Chateau and Tom Hanks in The Burbs.)  Mom's been engaged in an affair, (this was supposed to be "come clean" night) and the young boy is a vanilla ice cream sandwich and oblivious. 

Our teen heroine (?) may have gotten herself enamored with a goth witch who may be a little too adept, or terrible, at witchcraft.  Either way, this movie won't go where you think it will.  How do I know that, being that I'm not you?  Because I'm not sure it really ends up going anywhere.  (Sorry if I led you to believe there would be something more mind-blowing here).

The tension DOES ratchet up nicely along the way and is handled perfectly by the director, but alas, it looks like our filmmakers ran out of ideas after they probably should have closed the show down. They may see the end as an ambiguous conclusion or shock, but it reeks of loss of direction.