From one of The Whitest Kids You Know Zach Cregger continues the trend of sketch comedians creating awesome horror (I mean, sure, it’s probably only him and Jordan Peele, but it’s still weird). His follow up to Barbarian is more ambitious in both it’s story and the way it tells it.
The set-up: a bunch of third-grade kids, all from the same classroom, walk out of their houses at 2:17 AM and Naruto run into the darkness, not to be seen again (This happens right at the beginning, so not really spoilers). Only one kid doesn’t go missing, leaving the town asking questions of the “new teacher” played brilliantly by Julia Garner. The film picks up a month later and there’s still a lot of emotions boiling, naturally. It unfolds by showing several smaller segments telling the stories of the major players, going back a few days or so and after a few crossed paths, meeting up for a brilliant resolution to the mystery.
I loved the storytelling convention he uses, which slowly pieces together what happened. Cregger gives us information in very natural ways to paint flawed but believable people dealing with this gigantic hole in the world. When things start getting revealed and you start to get the big picture together, it’s both extremely satisfying and heartbreaking. There’s still a lot of ambiguity left floating around though to bounce around in your head for a bit after the film ends.
5 out of 5