He's Out There

Filmbooster lists one Quinn Lasher as the director, but the truth is that the person behind the film is the talented Greek Dennis Iliadis. I wonder what’s happened to him to have fallen so low this year. After years of delay, the anticipated Delirium went straight to Blu-ray in the US and was in the realm of the average, and now his name has been quietly erased from He’s Out There – not that the result is anything to brag about. There are signs of an ambition to do certain things a little differently than in the usual slasher movie by some untalented nobody, but in all respects, the film is still too ordinary and uninteresting. I didn’t feel any energy or enthusiasm and I wonder whether there isn’t anything more pointless than lazy horror. About one quarter of the film is dedicated to Yvonne Strahovski calming down her two annoying brats, which really got on my nerves. And I also don’t understand why it is so awfully bleak visually. Overall, not recommended, even though you can find worse. (08/15/2018)

I can't give a higher than a slightly above-average rating, because I caught myself being bored about halfway through the film. Fortunately, everything was saved by a more lively (but, at the same time, more dead) final third. The main villain strongly reminded me of Jason from Friday the 13th, and the book reminded me of the Babadook, so the screenwriter could have been a little more inventive. However, the sister duo were quite convincing as the terrified sister duo, and I could heartily root for the main character. Yvonne Strahovski is sure nice to look at (she would be the only reason for me to watch the third season of The Handmaid’s Tale, if it wasn’t for the terrifying prospect of Elisabeth Moss on the other end of the scale). 3*+ (10/26/2019)

Dennis Iliadis, the director of The Last House on Left did a little home invasion/slasher and made it under the pseudonym Quinn Lasher, why I really have no idea. It's a fairly brisk genre flick that may not bring anything new to the table, but it certainly won't offend fans of the genre. A mother and her two daughters go to a cabin in the middle of nowhere, where a psychopath in a mask who definitely has no mercy for anyone is lurking. The film paces nicely, has a nice atmosphere, the suspense works and there are three solid gore scenes, so I'm not disappointed, just wish that the ambition had been higher. 60% (10/18/2018)

“Nothing new under the sun at a cottage by the lake” would be an apt description of He’s Out There. But at least this time, the movie comfortably follows the classic slasher tradition and it’s intense enough to keep fans of the sub-genre happy. A mother and her small daughters are under attack with no firearms in the house. All they have is a kitchen knife, versus a Jason Voorhees wannabe with an axe. If I had seen this in my home “reality” on a Tuesday evening, I’d have probably given it a snobbish three stars. At Sitges Film Festival, in a flood of contemporary horror films whose creators constantly strive for something clever and revolutionary (and the success rate is about one in a hundred), I give this movie a respectful four stars. [Sitges FF] (10/10/2018)