1.5/5
Written by Luke Barnes
Summary
A man goes to his ex-wife’s dinner party after years apart. Once there he starts noticing strange behaviour from her and her new guy and becomes increasingly agitated.
I red a piece somewhere that said this film was trying to be like Vinterberg’s Festen, the hubris of that statement is only amplified when watching this deeply mediocre film.
Firstly, this film seems to think it is far deeper than it actually is. I often say that a film feels in-love with itself or perhaps that it has its head up it’s own rear end, both would be applicable to this film. The weighty elements to this film all feel incredibly predictable and played out, everything that happens is written on the wall from the start of the film- the twist is blinding.
Secondly, the film only starts to ‘get good’ around the reveal of the cult twist, which comes in the last fifteen to twenty minutes of the film. The rest of the film is a slog to get through, with the film only really switching between slow and tedious during this time period. Once things start to get crazy at the end it finally becomes somewhat watchable, but by then it is too little too late.
Thirdly and finally, I am a big Logan Marshall-Green fan and think that often he is a terrific character actor. However, here he is given nothing to work with and as such he gives a bland going through the motions sort of performance that will quickly be forgotten about- Upgrade this is not.
Overall, this is everything wrong with try hardy art house horror
Pros.
Logan Marshall-Green is trying
The last twenty minutes are entertaining
Cons.
It is slow
It is pretentious
It is boring
It is no way scary
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Another Millennial Reviewer 