We Need To Do Something (2021)

We Need To Do Something (2021)
Directed by: Sean King O'Grady
Written by: Max Booth III
Starring: John James Cronin, Pat Healy, Sierra McCormick, Vinessa Shaw

You will either love or hate this crazy directing debut from Sean King O’Grady but no matter which way your feelings sway, you’ll all be thinking about this horror long after the final credits roll!…

Crazy, chaotic, messy! Utterly fantastic, combined equally with frustration! Trust us, you’ll have many of those feelings and we guessing loads more flooding through your body, the same time as your eyes remain tightly fixed to the chaos surrounding the plight of a family of four getting trapped in their own home situation.

Debut director Sean King O’Grady wastes no time with any build up as even before we even see the retro red title card appear on screen, we see the family rush into their bathroom, to protect themselves from an outside storm that is a threat to their safety.

To make things worse they are not a picture perfect family either with Mum Diane (Vinessa Shaw) and dad Robert (Pat Healy) clearly having marriage problems with hints of Mum having an affair (why is she ignoring her phone calls) and Dad clearly suffering from rage issues. Their children, a sweet young boy named Bobby (John James Cronin) who is still too young to realise the chaos around him and a typical Teenage girl in the shape of Melissa (Sierra McCormick), who has discovered love for the first time but that relationship has come with oddly strange baggage that is eventually explained in flashbacks, the only time the movie steps out from the four walls of the bathroom.

The storm arrives, there is a loud BOOM and the family realise that a large tree has crashed into their home and wedged itself against their bathroom door, leaving them trapped, with no way out, just themselves for company.

So, as a film fan you immediately think that this is going to be “that kind of film”, a survivalist tale of how can a family get out of this predicament? by probably resolving their issues and defying the odds and escape without some blood and tears first. Well…not quite!

If like myself, you haven’t even seen the film’s trailer, then We Need To Do Something takes so many unexpected turns that it will leave you open mouthed at times in awe at the cheek of all involved. This is probably one of the most ambitious film making of horror I have seen in 2021. O’Grady doesn’t care about narrative or spelling out the plot to everyone who watches, we the viewer are much like the family in that we have no clue of what is happening.

The film is so ambiguous with its approach that will make you want to apologise to the creators of LOST as at least Jack and co had some answers back on that mystery island. Here we get zilch….nothing and for me personally it worked beautifully. I can’t remember the last time I watched a horror in which I had no clue where the plot was heading, instead I was glued at the chaos that was unfolding.

It helps that this film also contains quite possibly one of the best scenes within the horror genre for 2021. It was so deliciously dark that I laughed out loud, even more so when the final credits revealed the person responsible for that scare. No spoiler here, but damn I am jealous for those who will now see that play our for the first time.

I know I am being vague about the plot. but there is not much I can say. Yes they are trapped, yes they have no food supplies and the outside world seems to be cut off from them and yes we do get scenes of the Dad sucking on wet wipes to get some flavour in his mouth – one of many scenes in which the film sparkles with dark humour that should feel out of place but works beautifully as it sends out the blackest of macabre tone which delights. Yes we do get a vengeful Snake, slithering its way to offer a dark moment in the tale, but honestly its not a survival caper- but then is it? I don’t know, even now writing this review, I am thinking long and hard about what I just saw.

But that is the beauty of what O’Grady has pulled off, a film to be talked about among fans. There will be more of you who will hate this film than those who loved it, simply because of that ending which will annoy and frustrate so many that I can imagine there’ll be a lot of one star reviews out there.

But then you have that small core of fans who appreciated the carnage unfold, cherished the confusing unexplainable plot, was transfixed by the rumblings of the unseen threat behind the crumbling walls and is thanks to all that, will be more than happy to counter that argument with their own stunning four star review.

Which camp am I in?

Sort of in the middle, but that scare scene though…..that was a belter!

The Hughesy Verdict: Rating:

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