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Staunch Test DEBATE.

Theo (Kevin Bacon), a former banker with a turbulent past, his young wife Susanna (Amanda Seyfried) and their six-year-old daughter Ella (Avery Tiiu Essex) book a vacation at an isolated airbnb in the Welsh countryside. Once they get there they all start having nightmares and Theo is convinced that there is something wrong and evil inside the house. 

David Koepp’s You Should Have Left is a haunted house thriller horror movie based on the 2017 novella of the same name written by Daniel Kehlmann. It’s a story that definitely works better as a short novella rather than a full length movie. 

The premise is more intriguing than the plot itself, given the fact that the final twist is sort of predictable earlier in the movie. The story should be focused on the house but it diverts way too often to Theo’s past, foreshadowing that he must have done something horrible in his past. And so it was.

Theo’s first wife drowned in the bathtub and, at the end of the movie, he reveals to Susanna that he could’ve saved her but he chose not to, he just stood there watching her die.  

Apart from some nightmare scenes involving a mysterious man haunting Ella, who also chokes her at some point, there is no real visible violence on any of the female characters in the movie. The scene in which Theo watches his former wife die is barely shown and he doesn’t do anything to her, he’s just not helping her. Considering all this I wouldn’t say this one is a fail, but I would consider it a #StaunchTestDebate.

Simona Columbano

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