Ever been stuck in on a long road trip with your warring parents? Well, imagine that claustrophobic tension cranked up a few notches and you’ve got Sean O’Grady’s directorial debut We Need to Do Something, a hot box of seething anger, resentment, and fear. Although not specifically written for these pandemic times, it’s easy to see the parallels in a fractured family forced into close-knit quarters while “something” horrible lurks in the outside world. While the film boasts a terrific leading foursome who can make these anxious feelings really hit home, one can’t help but feel it would have been better if kept on a human level and without introducing murky, possibly paranormal elements.
We Need to Do Something is based on screenwriter Max Booth III’s novella, and takes place within a home’s bathroom walls. It’s there that a family has come to escape a raging storm, one that the nerdy son Bobby (John James Cronin) keeps insisting is an F5. Within moments it’s easy to see that things are not good between patriarch Robert (Pat Healy) and mama bear Diane (Vinessa Shaw). Her phone keeps ringing but she won’t answer, and he has suspicions about who is calling. Passing aggressive conversation between them catches the ear of rebellious goth daughter Melissa (Sierra McCormick), who can’t put her own phone down even for a moment. What’s heated between them boils over when a fallen tree traps them inside, and some sort of chaos seems to be happening outside. Even so, the more mundane terrors of the outside world manage to find their way inside.
While flashbacks to Melissa’s dangerous new relationship with occult punk chick Amy (Lisette Alexis) introduce elements that would be better suited to a different movie, the real terror comes from more common theats. A snake that finds its way inside cranks up the panic level in such a confined area, while Rob’s alcoholism (Is that mouthwash he’s chugging alcohol free? Probably not.) has everyone on constant edge, his wild eyes always suggesting an edge towards violence. The fraying familial bonds will keep you invested, aided by another strong performance by McCormick following her breakout The Vast of Night, and a quietly complex Shaw who has become a queen of playing fed-up women. Healy, a horror veteran at exactly the kind of disturbed middle-ager he plays here, is just over-the-top enough without going too far. This film should be crazy and he brings it. You just wish We Need to Do Something hadn’t fallen back on supernatural ambiguity that dulls the suspense created by this closed-coffin scenario.
IFC Midnight will release We Need to Do Something on September 3rd.
