Behind You (Movie Review)

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

WATCH BEHIND YOU HERE!

PLOT: Two young sisters are sent to live with their estranged Aunt and find that all the mirrors in her house are covered or hidden. When one of the sisters happens upon a mirror in the basement, she unknowingly releases a malicious demon that had haunted her mother and aunt years ago.

REVIEW: Andrew Mecham and Matthew Whedon's BEHIND YOU will be unleashed in theaters and on VOD via Vertical Entertainment later this week. A few weeks back I had the chance to snag an advanced copy of the movie for review. What did I think? Let's find out! The whole shebang kicks off decades ago when a little girl is attacked by something that comes out of the mirror. 40 years later, young sisters Olivia and Claire played by Addy Miller and Elizabeth Birkner are at a loss after the death of their mother. Their father is working out of the country and can't be reached and so the only family member they can be left with is their aunt – who still lives in the house where the little girl was killed all those years earlier…

To make matters worse, old eccentric aunt Beth doesn't want her little nieces staying in her home. And doesn't make it a secret. But she IS family and this IS the plot of the film so eventually, she relents. But she gives the girls a long series of rules. If you hear any noises in the middle of the night, ignore them. Don't come out of your room after dark. Don't go into her study. And – as always – don't go into the basement. As you might imagine, it isn't long before creepy shite starts going down. You know the drill. Doors open by themselves. Creepy little dead girls appear here and there. Candles pop alight all by themselves. Writing appears on surfaces mysteriously. Oh, and all the mirrors in the house have been removed or covered up.

And because she is a little girl in a horror movie, young Claire gets up in the middle of the night – on her very first night – and goes into her aunt's study, finds a key in a box, and then goes down into the basement. Kids, am I right? While down in the basement, she finds a whole bunch of – you guessed it – mirrors. Mysterious writing on the mirrors tells her that her dead mother is trapped on the other side of the glass – in a dark place. And the only way to free her is to repeat something three times: "Mirror, mirror, open wide. Let this spirit come inside." She does as she's told (for once) and from there, she starts acting strangely, clawing at her stomach, drawing blood, and screaming about how she wants to get "it" out. 

From there, things go from bad to worse and it isn't long before the girls are at war with the evil within the walls. To say anything further would ruin some of the movie's surprises. So let's just move on and talk a bit about the production side of things. For a film that takes place mostly in one house, it means the world that the production design is tops. And, thankfully, here it is. Musty windows blown out with white light bring about the feeling that the house is suspended in its own reality – floating in the middle of space, or somewhere more sinister. But production design without solid cinematography is wasted. So it's a good thing the camera-work here is also top-notch, making use of the house's depth, gliding throughout as if it were a ghost itself. 

The cast is also strong all-around with Addy Miller leading with budding star power. In a fun side note, Miller is best known for playing the stuffed-animal-clutching, first zombie to be killed on THE WALKING DEAD. The cast also includes Jan Broberg (AT THE DEVIL'S DOOR, MANIAC) as the ever-creepy aunt Beth and Phillip Brodie as the mysterious guy next door who comes over all the time, gardening, making the family dinner, bringing the aunt books on necromancy, and whatnot. The man reminds me of a poor man's Matthew Modine. Not a bad thing. Elizabeth Birkner does okay as young Claire. She was ten when they shot this so really what can you do? She talks to her stuffed bunny and has convincing peanut allergy reactions. 

In the end, BEHIND YOU would feel right at home in THE CONJURING UNIVERSE. Sure it would be one of the weaker entries in that cinematic universe, but hell, at least we all know it would be ranked higher than the original ANNABELLE. Rated R for some violence and bloody images, the movie is more for peeps looking for some spooky haunted house dealings than out-and-out blood, guts, and gore. But considering these kinds of slow-burn atmospheric flicks have been more my cup of tea these last few weeks, I dug my time spent with BEHIND YOU. And since I feel I have to mention this somewhere, the movie is co-directed by Joss Whedon's (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and CABIN IN THE WOODS) brother, Matthew Whedon.

BEHIND YOU will be in theaters and on VOD via Vertical Entertainment on April 17, 2020. Will YOU be checking it out once it hits? Let us know below!