You Should Have Left

Based on a novella by Daniel Kehlmann, You Should Have Left follows Kevin Bacon’s Theo and Amanda Seyfried’s Susanna as they travel to a remote house in Wales with their young daughter (Avery Essex’s Ella) for a few days of rest and relaxation – with horror ensuing after strange things begin to transpire all around them. Filmmaker David Koepp delivers a predictably slow-burn endeavor that benefits quite substantially from the actors’ stellar work, as both Bacon and Seyfried effectively transform their thinly-developed characters into impressively compelling (and entirely sympathetic) figures (which certainly heightens the impact of the perilous paces through which they’re eventually put). And although Koepp does a solid job of establishing the sinister house and its ominous environment, You Should Have Left suffers from a curious lack of creepiness that essentially drains the proceedings of any real suspense or tension – which ensures that the movie’s relatively frenetic third act is unable to pack the visceral punch Koepp has surely intended. The end result is a decent adaptation that generally feels as though it could (and should) be so much better, which is a shame, certainly, given the promise afforded by the engaging setup and intriguing eventual reveal of the house’s origins.

**1/2 out of ****