Written and directed by Maclain Nelson, co-written by Darren Wearmouth and James Murray, a church group’s annual retreat turns deadly when they wander into the wrong part of the Ozark wilderness, and something starts picking them off one by one. Starring: Lyndsy Fonseca, Russ, Tom Cavanagh, Hunter King, Joseph Lee Anderson, Rob Riggle and Brian Quinn.
Getting the elephant in the room out of the way, there is an inherent problem with Don’t Move and it’s that the opening doesn’t match the rest of the film. It sets a high bar that it will simply never reach again because those scenes don’t fit its overall identity. Unfortunately, it is something that will put of a lot of viewers because the opening is genuinely fantastic, it’s dark and painful, and entirely unexpected, whereas the rest of Don’t Move is much lighter and has more of an adventure-action-horror blend. So, it’s a shame the film didn’t either stick with that harsher tone or avoid it entirely, because the rest does actually make a good bit of old-fashioned monster horror fun.
If Maclain Nelson had gone all in on crafting a 1990s or 2000s style, slightly cheesy, comedy-horror, or even something akin to Goosebumps for adults, then Don’t Move had a lot of potential for a really fun outing. It is still fun but it’s fighting through that identity crisis at the same time, so its success is tempered. There is some good entertainment in the mix, the direction is decent, the effects are surprisingly good, even with a few weaker moments. There’s also a couple of nice jump scares thrown in there.
The cast is a great mix, who also definitely feel suited to leaning into the comedy more, especially with Rob Riggle and Tom Cavanagh. They make for that classic survivor group, warring dynamics, internal strife, but brought together when their members start falling foul of an eight legged predator. Lyndsy Fonseca makes for a good lead, creating a character who’s got thick skin, survival skills and plenty of common sense, which is often in short supply in a film like this. Russ as the tricky, spiky Ricky is another good addition, his character’s arc is surprisingly satisfying.
Don’t Move is a decent piece of easy entertainment, but had it veered more into comedy-horror territory and embraced the persona of films like Tremors, it might have reached its full potential. It feels as though it’s simply taking itself too seriously, wanting to be something darker while the actual execution is light and a little cheesy. There’s also a fair number of easy choices, but that’s par for the course. There’s a great cast, it’s decently made, but it simply needed a better self-awareness of the kind of film it was becoming, to have the most fun with this story.
