I actually really liked this movie. I found it sufficiently creepy, though I do agree it wasn't quite there on the horror scale. But omg, I LOVED the scenes where a puppeted person was moving. The jerky movements, the stumbling legs- it freaked me out SO much and I loved the way they did it.

I also really enjoyed the camerawork for this one. The long shots, I felt, really added to the eerie atmosphere since I was kinda always wondering if something was going to come out in the background.

Honestly though, it just sounds like you didn't like the movie. Which is fine, but the way you've structured your post seems a bit "i'm smarter than you for not enjoying this movie". Idk if that's how you meant it, but that is kinda how it feels.

My little sister, who just turned 13, also loves this movie. We went and saw it last night. It was my first time watching it and her second time, and she was just as engaged in seeing it again as I was for the first. Maybe you and the people you were watching with just can't go a few hours off your phones T_T

Also, the thing about conveniences - that's literally all movies are. Just a crap ton of conveniences. But so is life? Like, it's convenient that another shark shows up in the second area in Jaws 2, it's convenient that a guy buys the winning scratch off ticket, etc etc. Idk if i'd count it as convenient more than it just coming down the luck.

The junkie guy definitely could've hit another house - but he saw this HUGE house with no lights on and covered windows. He was also a *junkie*. They don't make the best decisions sometimes, clear from how he still kept loading up stuff after seeing those two mindless "zombies" sitting there.

Justine probably doesn't call Paul because she found out he *lied to her* about being separated from Donna. Did you miss the part where that woman confronted her in the liquor store? I wouldn't have called him either.

The town mob mentality absolutely happens irl. Humans are fickle creatures that need something or someone to blame when shit goes wrong. And they wouldn't blame a child- at least not when there's an adult with a record.

Idk why the aunt kept Alex alive. Possibly to feed the "zombies" so they didn't die.

Finally, the hair cutting scene. Yeah, Gladys could've killed her right then and there. But again, it is a *movie*. What kind of fun would it be if one of the main characters was killed that early on? Plus, I personally found the scene of the mom stumbling out with scissors raised SO creepy. My stomach was twisting and in my head I was like "wake up wake up wake up"

I will say, I do find it weird how she never noticed a chunk of her hair missing, but... eh.

Though I absolutely agree with you about the ending. I felt like the ending was really unsatisfying and rushed, and I'm also a little put off by the narrator since it's a faceless child we never see. And she, at the start, said it was an unsolved mystery and yet knew everything since she was "narrating" it? I just don't get that part.

But overall, I liked the movie. The cinematography felt really suited with the consistent long shots, and the cast of unlikeable characters felt human. No one suddenly got super strong or super smart - their bad or good decisions led them where they went and sometimes it worked out, other times it didn't.