Blumhouse is a production entity with an almost unheard-of string of successes, beginning with Paranormal Activity and through to The Purge and Insidious. Sometimes it seems like they can do no wrong.
On occasion, however, they make a low-budget movie that may be a quality film but which they don’t think will perform theatrically. Rather than shelve it like a big studio does, Blumhouse usually finds a home for it on Netflix. They’ve done this with a few films like Curve and Visions.
This week’s pick, Mockingbird, is one of the ranks of fascinating Blumhouse films that couldn’t make the theatrical cut but are still worth seeking out. The film was writer/director Bryan Bertino’s follow-up to his attention-getting debut film The Strangers, and the two have some DNA in common.
Both are films about people being stalked by a strange, masked group for reasons unknown. However, while The Strangers is a taut narrative film, Mockingbird is a kaleidoscopic found footage film with multiple narratives that eventually weave together into a surprising and violent conclusion.
The familiar faces are kept to a minimum to make the fake reality stronger, but you’ll recognize Todd Stashwick from Justified and 12 Monkeys and character actress Lee Garlington from every television show ever made. The story, about people who find a camera on their front porches that won’t shut off and instructions to film everything that happens, builds from a tense mystery into a dizzyingly strange final act complete with rooms filled top to bottom with balloons.
The ending reveal of the film hearkens back to Them, the 2006 French film that many consider a direct inspiration on The Strangers. Excellent tension, believable performances, some unexpected humor, and a shock ending make Mockingbird an unfortunately underseen horror entry worthy of revisiting… or watching for the very first time.