The Manor (2021)

The Manor was...a good try....sorta. There is really nothing more that can be said about it as far as merit goes. I say that because it has what is needed for it to be a thriller, **IF** that thriller's suspense rating were fixed at a 2 instead of being able to utilize the full range 10 scale available.
The movie had all the right ques for suspense, it just didn't have that "edge of the seat" guesswork, that "grip your husband's bicep" fear factor, nor the..._je ne sais quoi_ needed to make this movie engaging. The writers did a good job of showing how the MC's age and the problems she expresses to her family with what she is observing at the home, could be easily explained away as her having difficulty in adjusting; and how easily it is for the faculty to explain away the MC's fears. Whether it by fault of the writers or Hershey, the pacing of her character was a little off in that she's perfectly lucid for most of the movie, but in a meaningful scene of trying to convince her grandson what is happening, she is suddenly seems dementia-stricken...? It was too extreme and too sudden to be cosistent with the character's behavior up to that point. There was no outside influences to explain the change, such as lack of sleep, drugs, or abuse. The viewer is left thinking, "What...!? What the hell is the matter with her?" Instead of, "Wow! They (the faculty) have really got her sounding crazy." The writers failed in that regard.
The creature in the movie was well designed too, and its scenes were on a good par for adding suspense, there just did not seem to be...enough. Enough terror, enough suspicion, enough suspension, enough doubt, enough of..."It" needed to make this movie fit the genre. This movie is not _Angel Heart_. It's not _the Secret Window_. Hell, it's not even _the Number 23_. It's an...attempt. And under the current soft-serve snowflakey boundaries of political correctness, and social politics, it successfully was a waste of time; B-grade.
If I had to tell a friend about this movie, I would say, "It looks new. And it has all the bells & whistles. You just can't hear any of them above a normal conversation...in a library."

MAJOR SPOILER(S) AHEAD:


Okay. What is Hollywood doing? I mean really. What is to be learned at the end of this movie? What moral is trying to be conveyed here? That desires mean more than doing what is right?? That people's lives mean nothing; as long as they are on their on their way out the door of life that it's okay to use them for cannon fodder? Because if that is the case, then the writers did a very poor job indeed of trying to make the MC seem like the victim or prey in this movie, only to see her turn around and selfishly choose evil. The writing gave no indication that she was prone or would be prone to this behavior. You don't go an entire movie without a motivator, one way or the other, to indicate there's a chance this or that will happen. All this movie did was send the message that women can be relied on to do the wrong thing when the end result is self-serving? (Okay, well that may be true.) BUT I don't think that was the goal here. --Back to the lessons perceived -- What's the next "feel wrong", that boys become needy man-children when left in women's care? (Well, okay. That may be true too.) But again, these are not lessons that should be the ultimate take away. So again: What is Hollywood doing or attempting to do??? This is not the only movie that leaves the viewing audience feeling awkward or cheated. I experienced this same feeling profoundly back when I saw _Law Abiding Citizen (2009)_. I didn't come out of that movie feeling as if the "good guy" won. And there have been a number of shows, both in streaming and cinema that have left me thinking, "Why in the hell, did they even make this?!?" Why is the moral comapss (if there is one anymore) in Hollywood so screwed up???

Barbera Hershey has been in Hollywood before it's common drug usage and synonymous reputation to Sodom & Gamora became common knowledge to movie-goers. She has starred in some movies that have become "cult classics", movies that have never seen the light of a televised award show, but are **_very_** well known to the generation the movie was shown; sometime beyond. _The Entity_ is one such a movie.
I saw that movie 3 decades after it was made, and loved it. Had me wondering how they achieved some of the special effects of that time. Sadly, this movie will not be like that. $5 bin at the Walmart. It is definitely a "One & Done." (see it one time, and forget about it.)

Good luck in your viewing. -- Bob --