The Movie Waffler New to Arrow - I SEE YOU | The Movie Waffler

New to Arrow - I SEE YOU

i see you review
In a town plagued by child abductions, a troubled family experience strange occurrences in their home.

Review by Eric Hillis

Directed by: Adam Randall

Starring: Helen Hunt, Jon Tenney, Judah Lewis, Owen Teague, Libe Barer


i see you bluray

Few movies can get people talking quite like a twisty thriller. If you were around in the 1990s you'll remember how the public imagination was captured by the memorable twists of movies like The Crying Game, The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense. Would any of these movies have proven so successful without their twists? Probably not, as they relied heavily on word of mouth generated by viewers' excitement at having the rug pulled out from under their expectations.

Director Adam Randall's indie thriller I See You boasts the sort of reveal that might have catapulted it into the public sphere a couple of decades ago. Today it's sadly more likely to disappear into the straight to VOD void, given its lack of star power (sorry Helen Hunt, but As Good as It Gets really was as good as it got for your career).

i see you review

Straddling both the horror and thriller genres, I See You opens with a striking scene of a young boy cycling through a wooded path before being hoisted into the air, seemingly by some invisible presence. Called in to investigate the boy's subsequent disappearance is local detective Greg Harper (Jon Tenney), who finds a clue at the scene - a green pen-knife, the calling card of a child murderer who was locked up several years prior. Was the wrong man put away for the crimes, or is a copycat at work?

[ READ MORE: New Release Review - Second Spring ]

As if the stress of the investigation wasn't enough, Greg's home-life is in ruins, thanks to the recent revelation that his wife Jackie (Hunt) has been carrying on an affair with her old high school sweetheart (Sam Trammell). While Jackie waits for her husband to forgive her on and move on, Greg is sleeping on the couch, and her teenage son Connor (Judah Lewis) is refusing to even talk to her.

i see you review

So far, so straightforward. But something else is going on in the Harper household. The TV keeps turning itself on, cutlery is going missing, and a window repairman claims to have been granted access to the house by Jackie and Greg's non-existent teenage daughter. Could the Harpers' home be menaced by the same presence responsible for the young boy's abduction?

[ READ MORE: New Release Review - Wildfire ]

I See You doesn't leave us to wait until its climax to answer the question, as it pulls one hell of a switcheroo at the halfway point. Switching to a found footage format, the movie takes us back to where we began, delivering a Rashomon style retelling from another perspective. In 2019, it's rare to be impressed by something you can honestly say you haven't seen in a movie before, but I See You offers just that. I'm not going to ruin the thrill of what happens next, but watching director Randall and screenwriter Devon Graye break down the mechanics of their narrative is a delight for anyone with an interest in storytelling.

i see you review

Sometimes having a magician run you through the details of how they pulled off a trick can be more exciting than the trick itself, and that's the feeling I got watching the second half of I See You, as I silently applauded Randall and Graye for having fooled me into believing I was watching another generic haunted house thriller.

If there's one complaint about I See You it's that it spends a little too long going back over the details of its opening half, and comes dangerously close to being overly repetitive, perhaps a little too pleased with the cleverness of its plot construction. But if you appreciate a knockout plot twist, you'll be telling your colleagues at the water cooler about I See You's narrative thrills.

I See You is on Arrow Player now.