PRESENTS

I realized this movie was doomed about the same moment I worked out the "big twist", around 10 minutes and about 90 minutes too early. The introduction of the main character, a little girl residing in a big house alone, is full of grabby and exciting suspense from the unique uncomfortableness of watching a blissfully oblivious child navigate her day-to-day, narrowly avoiding catastrophic mistakes at every turn. Unfortunately, the intro quickly dissolves into just another boring alien invasion story full of cop-out creature effects, culminating in an abjectly unsatisfying resolution. The first fifteen minutes of juicy nuance are not nearly worth the last hour and a half of tropey garbage and sentient shadows.