I've watched a lot of horror movies over the years, and although many are terrible by design, so many have had a good idea, and/or some great scary and violent scenes, but were clearly padded to reach feature length.
Flashbacks, scenes of driving, random shots of the woods at night, repetitive conversations that go nowhere, etc.
The most recent example I can think of is the movie "Nope". I really liked the first 2/3, but when the surviving characters leave town, the movie essentially stops, only to slowly restart again. Characters waste time re-explaining what's going on, a new character joins the team, and the film turns into more of an action/adventure.
It was a TERRIBLE decision. A solid half hour of the film from that point didn't work for me at all. It completely took me right out of the movie. But if they went from the scene where our heroes first retreat from the ranch, and then immediately went to the finale, then it would've been a really solid, scary film.
So why not end things a little early? Especially for movies going right to streaming. My favorite example is Host (2020). 60 minutes by design, and I wasn't bored for a minute of it.
Flashbacks, scenes of driving, random shots of the woods at night, repetitive conversations that go nowhere, etc.
The most recent example I can think of is the movie "Nope". I really liked the first 2/3, but when the surviving characters leave town, the movie essentially stops, only to slowly restart again. Characters waste time re-explaining what's going on, a new character joins the team, and the film turns into more of an action/adventure.
It was a TERRIBLE decision. A solid half hour of the film from that point didn't work for me at all. It completely took me right out of the movie. But if they went from the scene where our heroes first retreat from the ranch, and then immediately went to the finale, then it would've been a really solid, scary film.
So why not end things a little early? Especially for movies going right to streaming. My favorite example is Host (2020). 60 minutes by design, and I wasn't bored for a minute of it.