Boxed In

I finally got around to watching Bird Box, the Netflix film that caused a stir about a year and a half ago.  The main thing that kept me from watching--it was over two hours.  Just by a few minutes, but who needs films that long, especially in the horror genre.  Move it along.

Anyway, it was fine.  But what fascinated me was how it played today, as opposed to late 2018.  I'm going to spoil the film a little, but really, if you waited as long as I did, you deserve it.

The story is set in today's world, except there's this illness around that makes people kill themselves. (A similar illness occurred in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening.) So early on in the film we've got this spreading problem killing people all over the world, with lots of unrest in the streets.  I almost turned it off--I can look out the window if I want to see that.

It eventually becomes clear there's an entity and if you see it, you off yourself.  So the only solution is to stay indoors and, if you have to go outside, wear a blindfold.  This film would make a good double bill with another 2018 horror hit A Quiet Place--in one you can't look at anything, in the other you can't make any noise. (The sequel to A Quiet Place was hit by the no-look problem--it was just about to open this year when all the theatres closed.)

Bird Box stars Sandra Bullock along with John Malkovich, Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver and Lil Rel Howery, among others.  Most of them don't make it, and some of the fun is wondering how and when they'll exit.  The biggest problem?  Too long.  They could've maintained the tension better if they cut about twenty minutes.  So I was right.

PS  Apparently there was the "Bird Box challenge" where ordinary people would do everyday activities blindfolded.  Boy are people stupid.