When Twitter obsesses about a movie so hard that BuzzFeed releases three different compilations of fan-made memes, that’s how you know it’s a Netflix horror film.
In the case of Bird Box, the hype was twofold. On one hand, there were lighthearted GIFs and “that moment when” captions, and on the other there were trigger warnings and harrowed testimonies to the film’s emotional punch. Which, in the case of the latter, I can’t quite blame them.
At the center of Bird Box is a frightening concept—a world attacked by abstract and nefarious beings, the sight of whom instantly causes the seer to kill themselves however they can. Needless to say, this leads to some pretty shocking moments, from a woman willingly sitting down in a flaming car to someone slamming their heads into window glass repeatedly until their death. The film opens with “Mallory,” played by Sandra Bullock, attempting to sail down a river blindfolded with two children known only as “Boy” and “Girl.” The film switches between this timeline and a “five years earlier” timeline when Mallory is nine months pregnant, and the viewer can see how this state of disaster began.
The timeline-swapping happens pretty seamlessly, and the film’s premise is an innately intriguing one. It breeds several incredibly suspenseful moments because, anytime the characters are outside, they have to travel blindfolded in case they see one of the creatures, a task that more often than not leads to peril. Thematically, the idea of something so horrifying that just looking at it provokes one to suicide brings me back to the most chilling moments of H. P. Lovecraft, and an analogy can be drawn regarding mental illness and the widespread depression in society.
If there is such an analogy, though, it doesn’t shine through as clearly as it could because the film’s emotional component just doesn’t quite hit the spot. Mallory’s character has an interesting and well-executed arc, but just about everyone else in the film falls short. This isn’t a complete sin, but it can make the cast feel a little one-dimensional. Survival horror, though suspenseful and entertaining, isn’t worth the while unless there’s a stronger emotional attachment going on, something done much better in a film like 2018’s A Quiet Place.
In fact, many have claimed Bird Box rides on the coattails of A Quiet Place, but I find this hard to believe considering the Bird Box novel was written four years before that film. Also, though I can see the comparisons to movies like A Quiet Place and It Comes at Night, this film, ironically, reminds me a bit more of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.
The world seems to be ending, yet the characters are oddly casual about dark-as-hell events, and the director somehow still finds a way to pump the movie full of ridiculously out-of-place comic relief. And, unlike A Quiet Place and just like The Birds, the premise of Bird Box doesn’t leave room for that complete of an ending. One could say that a certain “emotional” finish takes place or that Mallory’s character arc reaches closure, and maybe that’s enough of an ending to reward the viewer. But, personally, I still felt a pinch underwhelmed.
Bird Box is a worthy watch, and it’s a movie I could see myself returning to maybe once or twice, but it’s definitely not up to the level of the movies people are comparing it to. It’s frequently suspenseful, sometimes shocking, occasionally heartwarming entertainment, but for the horror Renaissance the last decade has brought, it just doesn’t fit. I have a hard time imagining us looking back 10 years from now and admiring it as much as other horror films from the same decade.
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