3 /10

It was not as if 'He's Out There' was doomed from the get go. While horror is not my favourite genre it is still highly appreciated by me and there are numerous examples of one that are well made and genuinely scary. 'He's Out There' sounded good, was very intrigued by the concept even if it was not a creative one, and the cover/poster did give the impression of it being a creepy film.



Sadly, that wasn't to be and it does not give me any pleasure in saying that, being someone who wanted to like it because there was promise. There are certainly far worse films in the genre and overall than 'He's Out There', but count me in as another person let down by the execution of what could have been a reasonable film done competently. Not an amateurish film, yet it is a film that does more wrong than it does right.



Lets start with the things 'He's Out There' does right. It does start off well, there is a creepy and unsettling vibe which gave the impression "hey this could be a decent film" if that amount of promise was sustained throughout the rest of the film.



Yvonne Strahovski and Ryan McDonald are also redeeming qualities. Strahovski throws herself into her role and it is a committed and deeply felt lead performance that deserved a much better film. McDonald does have moments of menace and creepiness as the one character the film tries to slightly develop.



However, 'He's Out There' is ruined by everything else not working. Do have to agree with everybody regarding the children, have not in a long time seen child performances this irritating and it completely diminished any sympathy one should feel for the family, which one doesn't do because they are so flimsily developed and the chemistry is so bland and unnatural. 'He's Out There' also falls downhill in quality quite quickly and too early, the opening was intriguing and unsettling but the rest of the film suffered from being far too predictable and lacking in tension and suspense to be scary (the scares are also infrequent and all are obvious and with nothing to them) and too dull in pace and dreary in atmosphere to be interesting. The bizarre-ness is taken too far and becomes annoying and confused, coherence is compromised, while the ending is contrived and can be seen from miles off.



The one character 'He's Out There' tries to slightly develop as said is the killer, even then his motivations are far too vague for him to be properly interesting. McDonald does do well in the acting stakes but the mask itself just looks silly/goofy rather than creepy. The writing is both cheesy and awkward, the direction is leaden, the characters are too underdeveloped or irritating with vague motivations and illogical character behaviours and the murkiness of the production values look more cheap than atmospheric.



Concluding, had a few strengths but lacking in many departments. A regrettably weak disappointment though there is far worse out there. 3/10 Bethany Cox