Naomi Watts stars in this watchable suspense-horror from British screenwriter Christina Hodson, making her feature debut: this was in the 2012 Black List of best unproduced screenplays. Director Farren Blackburn comes to the project from a background in British TV.
Watts is Mary Portman, a caring and conscientious child psychologist who is close to her troubled teen stepson Stephen (Charlie Heaton). After a terrible tragedy, she becomes crucified by feelings of loneliness, grief and a burdensome responsibility: she feels unable to leave the house and every day is an ordeal of anxiety. Then she comes across the case of Tom (Jacob Tremblay), an unhappy hearing-impaired boy, whose situation affects her deeply and she begins to experience what appear to be delusions and night terrors, isolated in this remote house, which becomes inaccessible in the snowy weather. Oliver Platt plays her concerned doctor and friend.
There is something entertainingly Hitchcockian and Freudian in this twisty chiller, with a touch of Dennis Potter somewhere in there, too. It’s low-key and modestly budgeted, but perfectly well made, and Watts maintains a cool and steady presence.
