Strange occurrences plague a small-town detective and his family as he investigates the disappearance of a young boy.
“I See You” tells the story of the Harper family, father Greg (Jon Tenney), mother Jackie (Helen Hunt), and their teenage son Connor (Judah Lewis). Greg is a police detective who is struggling to keep his family life together as he tries to deal with the disappearance of a local 10-year-old boy but also his wife Jackie and her recent infidelity. As the case for the missing boy intensifies, Jackie begins to experience strange goings-on in and around her house; all of their cutlery mysteriously disappears, photos of the family that line the stairway vanish completely, and peculiar noises begin emanating from the unused guest room at the top of the house.
We are led to believe that a supernatural presence haunts their home but about halfway through the movie, we discover two teens, Mindy (Libe Barer) and Alec (Owen Teague), who have been living in the Harper’s attic for a while. They are called “Phroggers” and they move from house to house, typically only staying in any given location for a few days. They carry a backpack with essentials like a toothbrush, deodorant, and underwear and they stay hidden in the attic until everyone in the house leaves for the day. They do not disturb the house residents at night and will take small quantities of food in order to survive when nobody is around.
Mindy has been phrogging for years and this is Alec’s first time but even after she has laid down the rules that they do not interact with the house residents or do anything that would alert them to their presence, Alec gradually becomes more intrigued with the entire situation and starts messing with their sanity. He takes photos from their frames and hides them, takes all their cutlery and puts them in the washing machine and just when we think he is psychotic, the film does a complete 180 and we discover that a tragic incident from Alec’s childhood, relates directly to the Harper family. As Alec seeks retribution for what happened, it becomes apparent that Greg is also hiding a big secret from his family and when both men finally come face to face, it becomes a fight to the death as Alec struggles to let the truth be known.
In my tagline, I state that this film intrigued me but then it disappointed me before intriguing me again. That happened when I was first under the impression that it was going to be a haunted house tale because I love ghost stories but when I realized it was Alec causing all the strange disturbances throughout the house, that is when I became dissatisfied but as the story progressed, the reason behind why Alec was behaving the way he was, became more and more captivating and for the first time in a long time, a thriller ended with a very satisfactory finale.
The acting by all involved is top-notch and director Adam Randall delivers a thought-provoking and gripping thriller that never lets go until the very end. Writer Devon Graye creates characters that are never clearly defined until the film’s conclusion and as a result, you never know who to root for. It’s been a long time since I saw Helen Hunt and it was great seeing her back on the TV screen again. If you are looking for a terrific whodunnit, look no further, you will be pleasantly surprised.
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