Stay out of the Attic (or Stay Out of the F**king Attic) immediately presents the audience with a terrifying premise: A horror film that runs less than an hour and a half with four writers. The movie is about a group of ex-cons who work as movers. When they get an offer to stay the whole night to finish work on a creepy house, they discover unimaginable horrors.
Often, a short run time can hamper the effectiveness of a story. The main issue is there is not a chance to get to know the characters. This is not as big of a problem with horror films and Stay Out of the Attic is no different. There is enough development in the opening moments to learn all that is needed. The leads are trying to turn their lives around is all that is offered and needed.
When Stay Out of the Attic does give some backstory, it comes off as unnecessary. These scenes feel like padding. Oddly, this is the case with most conversations in the film. Everything is unnatural. Things pick up about a third of the way through. Stay Out of the Attic becomes less about the characters and more about the terror. The music starts racing and the strange noises and jump scares do not stop.
Stay Out of the Attic is the most base form of horror. There is little build aside from “something is wrong”. The plot is more concerned with gross outs than actual scares. There are some great make up effects, but by then, the story has run its course. At this point, even the gory classics are hard to appreciate. There is still room for a straight up scary movies nowadays, but they do need to engage the audience.
Stay Out of the Attic premieres on Shudder March 11
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