Main cast: Kevin Bacon (Theo Conroy), Amanda Seyfried (Susanna), and Avery Essex (Ella)
Director: David Koepp
Oh look, it’s a Blumhouse movie, but oh my, I can count the jump scares only with one hand. You Should Have Left reunites Kevin Bacon and David Koepp—they last worked ages ago on Stir of Echoes—and like that movie, this one works mostly because of its strong emotional core.
Theo Conroy is a wealthy banker who is married to a younger woman, the actress Susanna. They have a daughter, Ella. On the surface, they are a happy family, and in a way, they are as the parents are devoted to the girl. Beneath the surface, though, all is not well between Theo and Susanna. Theo is not a popular person at all, as people still say he murdered his first wife. The case went to the court and he was found not guilty, but the suspicion remains. Also, Susanna is young, beautiful, and popular, which of course makes Theo feel insecure and jealous. He gets episodes of manic jealousy, snooping around her phone behind her back, only to calm down when he realizes that she doesn’t seem to be cheating on him. The man constantly listens to self-help tapes to control his anger and jealousy, writing down his thoughts in a journal in order to get his act in order.
When the movie opens, Susanna is set to film a movie that will take her away from Theo and Ella for about eight weeks. Theo decides to rent this lovely bungalow he finds on a website for them to enjoy time together. Well, this is a Blumhouse movie, so eventually weird things begin to happen.
Just like how Stir of Echoes had been called a rip-off of The Sixth Sense, one can frame the argument that You Should Have Left is a derivative of various generic haunted house horror movies that Blumhouse churns out regularly. I feel that this one does offer something more than some random The Conjuring-wannabe, though.
For one, it doesn’t rely on contrived darkly-lit doorways and jump scares. Instead, it takes its time to build up the characters, specifically Theo, before tearing them down. Kevin Bacon is especially effective in his role, as Theo ends up being a pretty well-done character. He’s an asshole, yes, but he’s also a man that loves his wife and daughter. In the end, he’s just a very human character that just happens to have some really dark demons hiding in the closet of his soul. Amanda Seyfried is solid as Susanna, although this movie revolves around Theo and she does as best as she could with what she is given, and for once, the child character is not annoying at all. As a result, I find myself fascinated by these characters. For a while, there isn’t much going on other than people wandering in hallways or having conversations, but I remain riveted by the whole thing.
It is quite disappointing, therefore, when You Should Have Left ends up serving a denouement that has been done many times before. It’s not a particularly memorable or interesting development, and it doesn’t make much sense either. Why let Theo meander around so long when he could have just been thrown into the denouement far earlier? The obvious answer is, of course, to pad things up and make this movie go past the one hour mark, but in the context of the story, there is no reason why that denouement takes so long to come up.
This is why I said earlier that the emotional components of this movie haul its rear end to the finish line. At the end of the day, there isn’t anything smart or remarkable about the story. It’s the cast that elevates an otherwise derivative and forgettable movie. While I find this one a decent watch, therefore, I won’t be surprised if fans looking for something more interesting would beg to differ.
