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We Need to Do Something

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Watch We Need to Do Something with a subscription on Hulu, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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While We Need to Do Something can feel as unfocused as its title, it offers eerily timely genre thrills, soaked in claustrophobic dread.

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Sean King O'Grady

Sierra McCormick

Vinessa Shaw

Lisette Olivera

John James Cronin

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‘We Need To Do Something’ Review: A Single-Room Horror That Could Use More Air

A dysfunctional family is trapped in a bathroom while strange phenomena occur outside in this solidly made but dramatically stifled debut.

By Jessica Kiang

Jessica Kiang

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Substitute “virus” for “tornado,” as the initial external threat and slot in “mandatory self-isolation” for “fallen tree that makes escape impossible” and it would seem Sean King O’Grady’s “ We Need to Do Something ” has instant allegorical relevance. It hardly takes a PhD in advanced semiotics for the pandemic-battered soul to identify with the plight of an archetypically unhappy family trapped in their bathroom while God-knows-what rages outside.

But releasing a single-location horror just as we all emerge from our own single-location horrors is a double-edged shard of broken bathroom mirror. Imagine “Sharknado” playing to an audience of marine biologists — ours are now the keen, jaded eyes of newly-minted experts in quarantine derangement syndrome. So we can’t help but see all the ways the film, which abandons allegory in favor of lurching grotesquery rather too quickly, fails to capture the actual psychological awfulness of being trapped too near your nearest and dearest, with no end in sight.

Instead of creeping claustrophobia, fraying familial bonds and eroding social skills, we get the more dramatic yet somehow more banal terrors of poisonous critters, mysterious gunfire, disembodied rasping voices and a dismembered organ that twitches, bloodily, in a sink. Which is all fine and good — especially the neat practical effects, and Shane Patrick Ford’s gloomy but surprisingly dextrous small-space camerawork. But when these episodes turn out to have little significance beyond their jump-scare or gross-out value, whatever glancing topicality the setup may have is lost, and you feel a little foolish for looking for it. When, late in the film, a phone’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” ringtone sounds out, it’s hard to escape the suspicion we’ve been Rickrolled.

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Pink-haired, pouting teen Melissa (Sierra McCormick) hurries back through a gathering storm from a date with her new girlfriend Amy (Lisette Alexis), a painstakingly styled goth with razor-blade earrings and a lattice of self-harm scars up her arm. Scolded by her mother Diane (Vinessa Shaw) for being late, Melissa, her younger brother Bobby (John James Cronin), her mom and dad Robert (Pat Healy) hunker down in the bunker-like bathroom while tremendous thundercracks sound outside and their phones blink tornado warnings. There’s a power cut and a loud thump and once the storm subsides, the door can only be opened a couple of inches. No one comes to help, phones don’t connect and the noises from outside are becoming more sinister and less explicable.

Greater nastiness still may lie within. Certainly Robert, an alcoholic, apparently abusive husband to Diane and a scornful, neglectful father to the kids, is in a rage even before they realize they’re trapped, and only becomes more blustery as the hours tick hungrily into days, weird things start to happen and cabin fever sets in. Melissa flashes back to her relationship with the troubled Amy, and starts to wonder if maybe their antics might be obscurely responsible for the whatever-it-is causing their predicament.

Part of the issue is that aside from the few, shallow-focus flashback scenes with Melissa and Amy that hint at a whole different film (specifically “The Craft” minus the mischief or the insights into self-conscious, hormonal teenage girls) we get no sense of who these people were before. Indeed in Robert and Diane’s case, it’s hard to believe they’ve ever been in the same room, let alone shared a life together.

From the outset, Healy’s Robert, a middle-management type in a short-sleeved shirt and tie, is crazy-eyed, clench-jawed, apoplectic, Willy Loman by way of Jack Torrance. Shaw, quietly impressive and restrained as always, is far subtler as Diane — neither performer’s choice is wrong, exactly, but this is a small room to be asked to contain two entirely different schools of acting. That schism, between schlocky supernatural chiller and psychological-disintegration thriller is never reconciled, certainly not by a final denouement that is as overexplained as it is unsatisfying.

Perhaps its scares work more evocatively on the page of screenwriter Max Booth III’s novel than in his screen adaptation. But more than most movie genres, horror relies on there being more than just what we see on the screen, and although “We Need to Do Something” wants us to infer cataclysms happening just outside the frame, it is as trapped therein as the characters are in that damn bathroom.

Reviewed online in Tribeca Film Festival (Midnight), June 15, 2021. Running time: 97 MIN.

Production: An IFC Films release and presentation of a Hantz Motion Pictures, Atlas Industries production. (World sales: The Coven, Lyon.) Producers: Bill Stertz, Josh Malerman, Ryan Lewis, Peter Block. Executive Producers: Lauren Hantz, John Hantz, Donovan Leitch, Katherine Waddell, Max Booth III.
Crew: Director: Sean King O'Grady. Screenplay: Max Booth III, based on his novella. Camera: Shane Patrick Ford. Editor: Jean-Philippe Bernier. Music: David Chapdelaine.
With: Sierra McCormick, Vinessa Shaw, Pat Healy, Lisette Alexis, John James Cronin.

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Vinessa Shaw, John James Cronin, Pat Healy and Sarah McCormick in We Need to Do Something.

We Need to Do Something review – doom and gloom in the bathroom

Scrappy Halloween fare set in a bathroom delivers more whimper than bang in its end-of-the-world horror

A decade ago, Jeff Nichols directed Take Shelter, a remarkably prophetic, big-picture drama with Michael Shannon as a construction worker alienating his loved ones with his insistence on building a bunker in readiness for gathering storms. It may be a sign of a withering US indie sector that this far scrappier genre item aims to generate comparably doomy vibes on a single set measuring barely 40 square feet.

Adapted by Max Booth III from his own novella, Sean King O’Grady’s film unfolds primarily in a domestic bathroom, to which uptight corporate drone Pat Healy, put-upon wife Vinessa Shaw and the couple’s two children are confined after a felled tree dissects their Tornado Alley property. It’s soon clear this is one of those metaphorical bathrooms, representative of a much bigger space. Squandering any remaining resources and striving to reimpose control, Dad insists “it’s not the end of the goddamn world”. Yet we’re clearly within touching distance.

With its circumscribed focus, this B-movie scenario proves a solid platform for the always-game Healy, whose recent trajectory – from fresh-faced helpmate (The Innkeepers) via corruptible patsy (Cheap Thrills) to high-strung bully here – neatly parallels the arc of the white male in modern American cinema. There’s less to do for Shaw, passively observing as the image of maternal patience, but the Imogen Poots-ish Sierra McCormick gets a leg-up as the teenager whose life is complicated enough before Dad lobs her phone outside.

Around them, however, the dramatic limitations become swiftly apparent. Flashbacks to McCormick’s ominous liaison with a gothy pal and an Ozzy Osbourne voice cameo provide a sketchy sense of the world beyond the bathroom door. But we’re mostly stuck gawping at the ever more dishevelled shut-ins who – even amid the splatter-heavy finale – don’t entirely know what they’re up against, and remain uncertain what to do. “I guess we wait,” shrugs Healy early on, which the audience is also forced to do for long stretches. “Just hold on a little bit longer,” adds Shaw, as the hour mark ticks past.

The film might have assumed greater resonance mid-lockdown. Emerging now, it’s moderately diverting Halloween filler – earning points for reviving Taco’s electropop cover of Puttin’ on the Ritz – but still way too static to become actually entertaining.

We Need to Do Something is released on 25 October on digital platforms.

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Movie Review – We Need to Do Something (2021)

October 21, 2021 by Robert Kojder

We Need to Do Something , 2021.

Directed by Sean King O’Grady. Starring Sierra McCormick, Vinessa Shaw, Pat Healy, John James Cronin, Lisette Alexis, and Ozzy Osbourne.

After Melissa and her family seek shelter from a storm, they become trapped. With no sign of rescue, hours turn to days and Melissa comes to realize that she and her girlfriend Amy might have something to do with the horrors that threaten to tear her family – and the entire world, apart.

A complement of the highest order, there’s only one question to ask once We Need to Do Something concludes; is director Sean King O’Grady okay in the head? I don’t have the answer, but I can tell you that if you enjoy witchcraft, body horror, excessive amounts of blood, charged family drama, demonic tongues, chamber thrills, or some combination of the above, there’s no reason to skip out on an experience this demented and warped. The fact that it’s Sean King O’Grady’s debut narrative feature (adopting both a novella and script from Max Booth III) makes this all the more impressive, as while the specifics of the story are still uneven and flawed, the zeal and confidence to put something this bonkers out into the world deserve to be commended. It’s a movie where Ozzy Osbourne has a voice cameo, nowhere near the strangest ingredient.

We Need to Do Something is very much a film built on surprises and swerves, so details on the plot will be left vague. However, what can be said is that the narrative centers on a dysfunctional family taking shelter in their bathroom for the night throughout a dangerously raging thunderstorm. Booming almost as large as every crack of lightning is the increasingly irritable voice of Robert (Pat Healy, only a “dumbass” quip away from resembling Kurtwood Smith, albeit with more toxicity and hostility), demanding to know who his wife Diane (Vinessa Shaw) is texting. He suspects infidelity, but given his temperamental behavior, it’s hard to blame her for doing so if that’s what’s going on.

Their children are teenage daughter Melissa (Sierra McCormick) and young Bobby (John James Cronin), who bicker as siblings often do, especially under harsh circumstances. Melissa is spamming her girlfriend Amy (Lisette Alexis) with messages hoping she is safe from the storm, whereas Bobby excitedly wonders if there will be an F5 tornado. The situation goes from bad to worse with a power outage, but as the rest of the family unites and starts to support one another, Robert only becomes more volatile. With no way out (which may be challenging to overlook and contrived for some), he switches between modes of emotional terrorism and a mildly caring father with little warning. Nonetheless, it’s clear to everyone that he is the one they should truly fear.

Breaking up those arguments are flashbacks to Melissa and Amy (the former believes that the thunderstorm, which seems to be morphing into some apocalypse) as they first get to know one another, fall in love, and eventually start experimenting with necromancy spells to get revenge on a local creepy boy spreading rumors about them. Admittedly, this relationship portion of the film feels underwritten and meant to explain away and push other aspects of the plot along, but it’s not without unsettling moments.

As if the multiple intersecting story elements weren’t enough to keep viewers off-balance, We Need to Do Something also oscillates between black humor and uncomfortable terror. Pat Healy is dialed up to 11 and going for broke. At the same time, the rest of the cast ground everything emotionally in devastating contrast to a father whose actions become straight-up disturbing. There is also a nightmare sequence that, putting it bluntly, fucked me up with its sense of place in the narrative and grotesque imagery. Toss in several other unpredictable elements, and you have a movie that’s the equivalent of funhouse horror with genuinely tragic moments. Yes, aspects such as the editing, pacing, and writing could be fine-tuned, but it’s nearly impossible to come away from We Need to Do Something without a rush of frightful adrenaline from a new voice that should already be thrown money to make whatever he wants.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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We Need to Do Something – Movie Review (3/5)

Posted by Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard | Sep 2, 2021 | 4 minutes

WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING is a horror movie with a lot of symbolism. Most of the movie takes place in one room. The only exception being a few flashbacks. It’s too long but has very strong moments. Read our full We Need to Do Something movie review here!

WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING is a new horror movie that plays out almost entirely in one room. A bathroom where a family is seeking shelter from a storm. The film has a lot of symbolism and not all of it is as easy to decipher as this film requires. As someone from the LGBTQ community, I can identify some of the subjects covered.

YOU MIGHT LIKE Our review of the LGBTQ-themed Shudder horror movie Spiral here >

However, I would not expect this to be easy for just anyone to catch onto. You need to pay close attention to the flashbacks and reactions of the teenage daughter to catch the details. And no, it’s not all-important to enjoy the film but the story is a bit messy without these details and facts.

Continue reading our We Need to Do Something movie review below.

A little less conversation, a little more action!

Overall, We Need to Do Something suffers from the one thing a “one location story” just cannot suffer from; Too much dialogue and not enough progress! We have seen quite a few amazing movies with one-location restraints. Hell, sometimes the films even feature just one actor on screen and it still works.

And I don’t mind dialogue-heavy movies. Not in the least. Hell, there are even moments where a monologue (often a story told by a character) can be the most intense and scary thing in the entire movie. For We Need to Do Something , there are just too many lulls in the pacing.

Also, the characters do stupid things and react in ways that are difficult to understand.

Strong little cast

For We Need to Do Something , we get four pretty cool characters – and awesome actors portraying them – caught in a rather large bathroom. In other words, there should be plenty to work with. However, the storyline does go around in circles a lot and much is never actually revealed. It just gets tired and boring, which I did not expect after the first half of the film.

I mean, the core cast consists of Pat Healy as the (very unlikable in every way) dad, Vinessa Shaw as the (loving and badass) mom, Sierra McCormick as the teen (and LGBTQ) daughter, and John James Cronin as the (obvious baby of the family) son.

We’ve loved Pat Healy in movies like Cheap Thrills (2013) and he played a very laidback character in the Hulu horror movie Run . His character in this new movie is the least favorite role of his, for me. Vinessa Shaw was awesome in Clinical and Family Blood and you may also know her from the 2006 The Hills Have Eyes .

CHECK THIS OUT The Netflix horror-thriller Clinical starring Vinessa Shaw is worth watching >

Sierra McCormick just starred in the two opening episodes of the new AHS spin-off American Horror Stories so she was fresh in my memory. She delivers a strong performance in We Need to Do Something .

Also, Sierra McCormick essentially carries the story and plays the only family member we see outside of the bathroom. This is in flashbacks with the character, Amy, played by Lisette Alexis who is also really good. More scenes with these two would have been a plus in terms of storytelling.

Watch We Need to Do Something in theaters or On-Demand!

Sean King O’Grady is the director of We Need to Do Something and he has landed a strong cast, which should have resulted in a better overall movie. At least, I expected more from this based on the cast and plot. This is the feature film debut of Sean King O’Grady as a director and hopefully, we’ll see more from him soon.

There was definite potential. Just also a lack of proper pacing, too long of a runtime, and more symbolism than needed. The latter might have more to do with the script than the directing.

The screenplay was written by Max Booth III and is based on a novella by him as well. I have not read the original story, so I can’t say how well it has been adapted here. However, since the author also wrote the screenplay, I can only assume it included whatever he felt was most important.

I would recommend watching this for about 75 percent of its runtime. However, the final 15 minutes or so go off on a tangent that doesn’t suit the overall movie. Not in my opinion, in any case. Sure, the actual final moments are pretty (bloody) awesome but they don’t hit nearly as hard due to the weak moments leading up to it.

We Need to Do Something is out in theaters and On-Demand from September 3, 2021.

Director: Sean King O’Grady Writer: Max Booth III Stars: Sierra McCormick, Vinessa Shaw, Pat Healy, Lisette Alexis, John James Cronin

Seeking shelter from a storm, a family find themselves trapped for days with no sign of rescue and untold evils lurking just beyond the walls in this wildly fun house-of-horrors thrill ride.

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About The Author

Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!

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We Need To Do Something Review: Terror On The Tiles

Whether it's intentional or not, the horror genre always reflects the anxieties and fears of the current moment. It might be something the filmmakers deliberately mine, something we as viewers find within the darkest parts of ourselves, or a combination of both, but the right horror film can somehow both entertain you and cut right to the heart of the existential dread that lives in your very soul on the exact day you watch it.

With all that in mind, it shouldn't be surprising that "We Need to Do Something" was filmed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and it also shouldn't be surprising that the film's tremendous sense of familial tension and isolation might shake to your core if you've spent the last 18 months looking at the same four walls. With just five major characters and most of its runtime contained within a single room in a storm-battered house, it's easy to see the parallels. Look closer, though, and "We Need to Do Something" is a film about much more than the horrors of isolation and lockdown, though it certainly mines those ideas for everything they're worth. With a stripped-down, claustrophobic atmosphere, a phenomenal cast, and a filmmaking team that knows how to extract maximum effect from minimalist surroundings, "We Need to Do Something" has emerged as one of the most potent new horror films of 2021, one that will leave you squirming to get out of your house, if only to make sure the outside world is still there.

Big scares in a small room

Directed by Sean King O'Grady and written by Max Booth III (who also wrote the novella on which the film is based), "We Need to Do Something" begins with an infectious combination of the mundane and the menacing through the simple depiction of a family of four hunkering down in their bathroom to wait out a coming storm. Everyone's on edge for their own reasons as they close the door and settle in on the tile floor. Father Robert (Pat Healy) and mother Melissa (Vinessa Shaw) are seemingly still mid-argument about something they couldn't settle before the storm sirens started going off, while youngest child Bobby (John James Cronin) is more concerned about just how big and spectacular the oncoming storm might get. Then there's teenage daughter Melissa (Sierra McCormick), who's far more preoccupied with the well-being of her girlfriend Amy (Lisette Alexis) than she is with anything having to do with her actual family.

Then the storm sets in, and the family find themselves dealing with much more than internal tension. With a massive tree suddenly blocking the bathroom door, they can't get out, and they can't seem to find a way to call for help either. With no one to turn to but each other, each member of the family begins to break down in their own way, even as the world outside the bathroom might hold something far darker than the aftermath of a storm, something Melissa is increasingly convinced she might have inadvertently summoned...

That's a lot to layer into the opening act of the film, and what's apparent right away is how patient and measured O'Grady is in his pacing. There's something very methodical to this film's opening minutes, to the ways in which O'Grady's choices and Booth's scripting set up the pieces like they're all part of some demented cosmic chessboard. It begins with a tantalizing, incredibly brief glimpse of the world beyond the bathroom walls, then progresses to layering in the internal tension between the family members, then starts to hint at something darker, something stranger, just beyond the bathroom walls. By the time the first act is over, you're hooked, because you're just as mystified and terrified about what's outside that bathroom door as the characters are.

But the real key to the success of "We Need to Do Something" is not just its ability to sustain the sense of tension and mystery within the bathroom, but its ability to push beyond those initial moments of fear and panic and into a deeper, darker kind of fear. Through artfully designed and well-placed flashbacks, we learn what Melissa and Amy were doing in the lead-up to the storm, how their fates intertwined, and what their choices might have to do with everything going on, whether that's all in Melissa's head or not. This facet of the story, driven by incredible performances from McCormick and Alexis, pushes the film beyond apocalyptic horror and into earnest, almost mystical coming-of-age territory, as Melissa works to discover not just what she might have done, but why. When you're a teenager, everything can feel like the end of the world, whether it's a bad grade or a good kiss, and "We Need to Do Something" raises the stakes of its intricate, intimate storytelling by never losing sight of that fact.

Powerful performances

Of course, that intimacy doesn't work without a cast to carry it along, and "We Need to Do Something" is blessed with a quintet of pitch-perfect performances. McCormick, who caught the eye of many genre fans with "The Vast of Night" in 2019, continues to up her game with performances like this one, simultaneously vulnerable and powerful, radiating an inner intensity through her expressive eyes. She's the heart of the film, while Shaw and Healy, with impressive filmographies of their own, work as the lungs, continually raising and lowering the tension with the rhythms of their performances as two parents both in over their heads and sick of each other. As the film wears on, Melissa's backstory takes center stage, but Bobby and Diane have a story of their own, and Healy and Shaw make sure you'll never forget it. Then, of course, there's Cronin, who has his own emotional load to carry throughout the film, and who navigates it with grace and depth, and Alexis, who exerts tremendous influence over the film's emotional tone despite sharing the screen with only one other character in a handful of scenes. It all amounts to an astonishing piece of ensemble horror storytelling — all these people feel so real that the deeper the film descends into madness, the farther we're willing to go with them.

"We Need to Do Something" probably wouldn't work, or at least wouldn't work as well, without the power of the performances at its core. That's just the nature of movies with this level of stripped-down intimacy, but that's not to say the craft applied elsewhere should be neglected. O'Grady has built an impressive, taut, surprise-packed puzzle box of horror with "We Need to Do Something," and he's done it with his feature directorial debut. This is an impressive announcement of a bright new directorial voice in horror filmmaking, but it's also something more. It's a compelling, often strangely moving story of apocalyptic teenage longing, a thriller about a family coming apart at the seams, and the kind of film we'll be talking about a decade from now as a clear and powerful encapsulation of the horrors of the moment we're living in.

"We Need to Do Something" is in theaters and on demand September 3.

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Film review: we need to do something (2021).

Janel Spiegel 06/26/2022 Film Reviews

Seeking Shelter from a storm, a family find themselves trapped for days with no sign of rescue and untold evils lurking just beyond the walls in this wildly fun horse-of-horrors thrill ride.

Sean King O’Grady directed We Need To Do Something, and Max Booth III wrote it. It’s based on the novella.

The film opens with a stunning view of the town the family lives in, and we meet the family. Diane the mom portrayed by Vinessa Shaw, Melissa (Sierra McCormick), Robert the father (Pat Healy), and Bobby (John James Cronin). There is a bad storm, possibly a tornado, and the family decides to lock themselves in the bathroom. Normally it’s a basement but a bathroom could be good too. The bathroom looks big by the way, like a living room.

The father seems to be short with his family. No patience and annoyed. Robert and Diane don’t want each other on each other’s phones either. It’s rather strange. There is a flashback to Melissa with her friend Amy, and she wants to stay in contact with Amy during the storm. They wind up getting trapped in the bathroom, and Melissa’s phone gets lost.

No help has showed up yet, they are seeing snakes. The father has an alcohol problem, he resorts to chugging mouth wash. What in the Poltergeist is going on? So, now they hear noises from outside the door, and no one has come to help. Ozzy Osbourne is the voice of the Good Boy. The family thinks it’s a dog that’s come to save them but it’s not a dog.

Melisa and Amy (Lisette Alexis) have been dabbling in magic, maybe dark magic? Who knows? A lot is happening to this family. I’m not sure how many days they have been trapped in this bathroom but it’s insane. We Have To Do Something is a supernatural mind-fuck of a movie. It takes you on various creepy routes. You find yourself fascinated, and you want to know what this mysterious creature or force is? Will Reverend Kane show up and scare the shit out of the creature?

Vinessa Shaw and Pat Healy are so good in this movie. They are playing off of each other, and you don’t trust Robert at all, at least I don’t. Sierra McCormick put her all into Melissa, she gave this tortured character heart and soul. The Voice at the Door is Dan John Miller.

The cast and the story are good. It makes you think about life but it’s a fun scary movie. You can grab a drink, snacks, and have a fun movie to watch with friends. We find out some more wild stuff and also, is Amy real? It gets weird. When I say that, I sort of mean is Amy another version of Melissa? Maybe, I took the deep dive too far? It’s a trippy movie. The cinematography is amazing. The fact that it takes place in a bathroom is crazy because you would think it would be BLAH! But, it’s not.

Also, in regards to witch craft, learn and understand witchcraft. Don’t mess with anything you don’t fully understand. Amy reminds me of Nancy from The Craft , she wants all of this and isn’t entirely sure if it will fully happen? Vinessa Shaw is so calm and collected throughout the movie. She’s a force to reckoned with.

This family is barely holding on, and Robert can’t get himself under control. People always think kids don’t know stuff in regards to their parents. If there is some kind of sadness, heartache, or things like being an alcoholic or an addict. Kids know, they can see it and sense it. It’s horrible to grow up in situations like that. You don’t know the next move, the next screaming match? It’s torment.

I would suggest picking up the Blu-Ray and watching the movie. We Need To So Something is a supernatural mind-fuck of a movie. It takes you on this journey that is frightening.

Make sure to check out We Need To Do Something.

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We Need To Do Something Review: A Horror Movie With Hits & Misses

By: Author Tessa Smith

Posted on Last updated: August 30, 2021

We Need To Do Something is an intriguing horror movie with some parts that really work, and some that really don’t.

We Need To Do Something starts off slow and vague, but does eventually get into a decent horror story. After a storm traps a family inside their bathroom, the majority of the movie takes place inside this one room, where things start to completely unravel. With an unsatisfactory ending though, this movie will make most viewers wonder why they even bothered.

When a storm hits, a family of four goes into their bathroom to be protected from it. However, there is complete destruction and a tree blocks the door, causing them to be trapped for several days. Things get crazier and crazier as they are attacked by a snake, a dog, and area haunted by unexplainable noises. Melissa, the teenage daughter, starts to think these events might have been caused by something her and her girlfriend Amy did.

The movie is carried by a pretty decent cast, and some fun and gruesome effects. Yes, they are very much C horror effects, but they still help bring something interesting to the story. The plot itself is enough to keep the audience engaged for the most part, Unfortunately it does dip here and there, caused by the fact that there is a lot going on, maybe too much, going on.

The majority of the film takes place in that one room, with flashback explanations to a handful of other places. These mostly detail what Melissa has been up to with Amy. If We Need To Do Something played out in order, at least for the most part, instead of flashing back and forth, things might have been a bit more clear, which in turn would have made it a better movie.

As secrets and situations are revealed, the story itself only gets more and more crazy, causing viewers to come up with their own theories. There is one major issue though — the ending. It is extremely vague, seems to happen abruptly, and leaves viewers wondering what actually even just happened. What was the point of it all?

That being said, the majority of the journey is heart-poundingly intense, making it worth checking it out, if this is your sort of thing.

About We Need To Do Something

We Need to Do Something opens in theaters, Digital, and VOD on September 3, 2021.

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Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. She is also a Freelance Writer. Tessa has been in the Entertainment writing business for ten years and is a member of several Critics Associations including the Critics Choice Association and the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association.

[Movie Review] WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING

August 31, 2021
Tom Milligan

Of course, if you already are a horror fan, you’ll know that we’ve been seeing these already, with indies such as Rob Savage’s Host launching on Shudder last year to critical acclaim (though I had plenty of issues with the film myself). Borrowing from the playbook of “online” horror films such as Unfriended , Host is a ghost story for the COVID-19 era. Utilizing a Zoom interface, Host became a positive example of striking while the iron is hot, capitalizing on trends, activities, and the collective emotions we faced during the early quarantine stages of the pandemic.

Whereas movies like Host are set during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sean King O’Grady’s WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING serves as an allegory for the trauma of isolation that folks around the globe are now unfortunately all-too-familiar with.

Kicking things off with ominous dark clouds looming over small-town America, we’re introduced to a family of four as they take shelter in their bathroom during a tornado. Siblings Melissa ( Sierra McCormick ) and Bobby (John James Cronin) share a quotidian bickering relationship for a brother and sister with a wide age gap. Husband and wife Robert and Diane (Pat Healy and Vinessa Shaw) are bitter and resentful toward one another, with the former frequently exploding at the family due to blatant anger issues and alcohol dependency. When a tree crashes through the roof and blocks the door from the outside, they soon realize that their options are limited aside from simply waiting for someone to come and rescue them. As time goes by, strange happenings begin to occur and the family begins to wonder if the outside world is no longer what they once knew.

I’m not certain if I cared about these characters more than I was interested in seeing what was in store for them, but the cast works well amongst each other despite some occasionally forced dialogue. Pat Healy is no stranger to playing scummy characters and, well, let’s just say Robert is the type of dad who’s unlikely to bring home any “Father of the Year” awards. Melissa, early on, is the one who delivers the (sort of, not quite) title of the film in a plea for proactive measures to be taken. They’re also a family that knows how to take a joke despite the dire nature of their circumstances. It’s welcome when a horror film knows not to take things too seriously, but attempts at humor can be hit or miss.

Structurally, WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING won’t feel out of place for Twilight Zone fans, with its genre trappings and real-world allegory. Based on a novella by Max Booth III (who also adapted it into the film’s screenplay), it doesn’t feel so much like a film about the coronavirus pandemic as it evokes the grim, sad reality of sheltering in an isolated location for prolonged periods.

Economically produced, the majority of the film is set in the bathroom, but what we’re presented comes across as professional and deliberate rather than cheap. Occurrences outside of the bathroom are left to the audience’s imagination, which some will undoubtedly find frustrating, but it largely succeeds at maintaining an air of mystery that’s essential for creating tension. Flashbacks are intermittently spread throughout, revealing nuggets of information to help the story coast along to the finish line at a brisk 97 minute-long runtime. It’s nothing particularly new, nor does it build up to any dramatic reveals per se, but it weaves the tale at its own pace with a clear destination in mind.

It’s a bit of a bummer, as it does feel as though the film lays the groundwork for some form of surprise ending or emotional catharsis. That’s not to say there aren’t moments of bleakness or chaos to be found, but I wish it were all featured in a film that had a bit more to say.

What can be said about WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING is that it delivers one of the best scares of the year. Seasoned horror vets may think they know what to expect, but it managed to drop my jaw with its WTF weirdness and ace sound design (the film also sports an interesting metal-inspired score that provides a deafening backdrop for what’s otherwise a low-key setting).

And yet, it also feels like the film peaks somewhat early with this genuinely inspired moment of shock. What comes after should likely satisfy gore fans, but it left me yearning to have taken away something deeper from the experience. What’s here is sufficient as entertainment; it’s just missing something to make me want to revisit this family’s apocalyptic ordeal in such tight quarters, especially after a year of being trapped inside my little one-bedroom apartment.

WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2021 and will be released in theaters, Digital, and VOD on Friday, September 3, 2021, from IFC Midnight .

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We Need to Do Something

There’s something of three different movie genres in We Need to Do Something . It’s an out and out supernatural horror movie featuring demonic creatures, a bit. An “escape room” thriller about the perils of not co-operating, a bit. And a fraught drama about a marriage collapsing, also a bit. Taken individually none of these genre strands does anything staggeringly original, technically remarkable or drivingly tense, but you’ve got to admire the way writer Max Booth III and director Sean King O’Grady stitch the parts together.

A family retires to a bathroom convinced a tornado is coming. It is, and within minutes of screen time the storm is howling all around them, eventually uprooting a tree outside, which topples and blocks their exit to the outside world. They can open the thick oak door a crack but nothing more. How many bathrooms give out onto the outside world? Not a question to ask right now.

Inside are Diane (Vinessa Shaw) and Robert (Pat Healy), parents to teenage pink-haired gothlet Melissa (Sierra McCormick) and her young brother Bobby (John James Cronin). In flashbacks we meet Melissa’s even more goth-like friend Amy (Lisette Alexis) – studs, crucifixes, tattoos and the self-harm scarring that comes from being a “cutter”. Also on the cast list, if you look at the IMDb, are Logan Kearney as Joe, a stalkery guy glimpsed once vaguely, Dan John Miller as the Voice at the Door, a fleeting beacon of hope, and Ozzy Osbourne as Good Boy. Don’t rent the film to watch on the strength of Osbourne, it’s a voice-only role and his contribution lasts maybe four/five words, but his name gives some idea of the territory we’re in.

I mention the other names really to point out that this is the four of them locked in the room, plus Amy briefly in flashback, but it really is four people in a room for the most of it. The electrical power tends to come and go and the family has water, but no food. Here beginneth the tormenting, and it comes at them from three different directions: outside, inside and… who knows?… below?

From outside there are manifestations of the disrupted eco-system – snakes, mostly, the sort that rattle and bite, and a distinct lack of neighbourly assistance. From inside there’s the increasingly fraught relationship between Robert and Diane. From fragments of conversation we can gather that she might have been conducting an affair, on account of Robert being unbearable. From the supernatural realm there are menacing noises, a creature of some monstrousness at the door (the one with Ozzy’s voice) and the increasing realisation by Melissa that this might all be her fault. She’s been playing teenage voodoo – we see in flashback with Amy – and now the (headless) chickens have come home to roost.

The whole thing was shot during the Covid pandemic, and though it’s never referenced explicity, there is that life-in-a-time-of-affliction aspect hanging there for the taking, and family members forced into too-close proximity in a confined space is a kind of horror scenario a lot of people can buy into right now.

The flashback scenes – shot all woozily soft, shallow of focus, pastel of hue – provide a bit of relief from these four lock-ins. That’s when Melissa and Amy do their goth-bonding, plus the bit of gape-mouthed kissing that’s spotted by stalkery Joe and recorded on his phone, for wider dissemination later, prompting them to take supernatural action against him. Blood, wax, a bit of dessicated tongue, some Latin incantation… Joe’s in trouble.

But the main source of the trouble for the incarcerated family is Robert, who starts out in Big Dad mode – his joshing banter too personal, his dad-jokes too unfunny – and gets bigger and bigger, slurping mouthwash, sucking the alcohol wipes dry and over the days working himself into a frenzy of wild accusation – his wife’s a bitch, his daughter’s a witch etc etc, while DP Jean-Philippe Bernier ramps up the lurid horror lighting and director O’Grady ups the pace until…

Pat Healy does a lovely job as the initially peevish, eventually monstrous Robert, for whom it does not end well. But one of the most satisfying aspects of the film is that it itself really does end well. It goes out on a high, still insisting that it’s a horror, a thriller and a drama all rolled into one and still, somehow, managing to pull it off.

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By The New York Times

A vampire flick with a familiar bite.

A girl with vampire-like teeth screams into the camera.

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A cheerfully obvious splatterthon, the new horror movie “Abigail” follows a simple, time-tested recipe that calls for a minimal amount of ingredients. Total time: 109 minutes. Take a mysterious child, one suave fixer and six logic-challenged criminals. Place them in an extra-large pot with a few rats, creaking floorboards and ominous shadows. Stir. Simmer and continue stirring, letting the stew come to a near-boil. After an hour, crank the heat until some of the meat falls off the bone and the whole mix turns deep red. Enjoy!

In theaters. Read the full review .

Less-than-glorious “basterds.”

‘the ministry of ungentlemanly warfare’.

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Like if Dorothy Gale was your Uber driver.

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Watch on Hulu . Read the full review .

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‘stress positions’.

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There’s always one more “one last job.”

‘blood for dust’.

Seventeen months after a theft scheme goes horribly wrong, two former colleagues-in-crime reunite for a drug-running operation.

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In theaters and available to rent or buy on most major platforms . Read the full review .

A private world of childhood friendship, ruptured.

‘we grown now’.

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‘rebel moon — part two: the scargiver’.

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Watch on Netflix . Read the full review.

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