Within (2016) User Reviews

Good start, bad finish (or: how Within stole the idea from The Boy)

[marcwiechmann · 4/10 · 23 January 2017]

Oh dear, what did I just see?

Before you continue: please be aware that by my comparisons in this review might include a spoiler for another movie !

"Within" (a.k.a. "Crawlspace") is the kind of horror movies, that start out quite well, but lose all their swing during the movie.

The alternative title "Crawlspace" basically gives it away right from the beginning. A family of three moves into a new house. From minute one there are noises from behind the walls and from the attic. Of course no one besides the teenage daughter hears it, and of course no one believers her, even though the whole city knows about some gruesome murders, that took place in the house just a few years ago. Never solved those murders, of course. When things start to happen in the house, the family shifts between thinking it may be the neighbor and totally ignoring everything. Horror business as usual, until the ridiculous and very obvious end.

The acting is okay - Michael Vartan is kind of a veteran and delivers. The mother was forgettable, but ah, Erin Moriarty is the star of the movie. She is young and hot and real eye candy, though her acting skills might be debatable. Also, it was a bit too much - was the director in love with her or something? Sometimes I really felt like a voyeur, who is just drooling all the time about this (in the movie) 17 year old teenage girl in underwear. She basically was all time in tight shirts, hot pants or panties. Don't get me wrong, I like to see cute girls in light clothing as much as every average male horror fan - but I don't like it if the movie centers around that. Underworld 2, anyone?

Everything, that MIGHT have become good in this movie, got lost after about half of the movie. Not only can you suspect what is happening right from the start, but the movie even solves up what is going on before the last third of the movie. From then things just get ridiculous. The murderer is suddenly kind of supernaturally strong and quick, there are two really horrible attempts at a "twist" (both fail horribly), and the finale of the movie is just badly executed and made me face palm.

Also, the base idea of the movie is - in my opinion - directly stolen from "The Boy", with the difference, that "The Boy" actually was a very decent movie, that got everything right, that "Within" could not do.

This movie did more feel like a student's project. For this, I would have rated it higher. But for a real attempt to succeed on the market, 4 stars are close to being too much. I give 2 stars for beautiful Erin Moriarty, one star for Michael Vartan and one star for the really good soundtrack. I am still singing "Are you alone now" while writing this review. Get the song, it's great.

If you don't expect anything and just wanna pass some time, while watching a pretty girl doing stupid stuff, then you will be okay with "Within".

If you have a certain level, that movies must not underpass, you should probably skip this one. Go and watch "The Boy", it's the better movie.

Police not doing their job

[phoenix_uk_k · 4/10 · 18 October 2019]

I'm sure you have read all the other reviews but my biggest problem was the police showed up to investigate a suspect living in the walls, turned up, shot a guy and immediately left afterwards, none of them stayed around to gather evidence or make sure the crime scene was clear of any threats...... Seriously they just got the hell out of dodge, which is what the family should have done.

Not a horror, not a thriller, definitely a yawner

[bigjimdavis · 4/10 · 5 June 2017]

Contains many mistakes and just plain idiotic writing.

Ray uses a duplicate key to break in, but wait.... didn't another locksmith re-key the house? How did Ray get the key? Oh yes, and why didn't the alarm go off when Ray broke in, Hannah set it before she left, but it was off when Ray came in. And Hannah... didn't she notice the alarm was off when she came home? Plus she must be the heaviest sleeper in history, David takes off her sheets, climbs on top of her going nose to nose with his hair all over her face and drools on her, but does she wake? And Daddy doesn't tell them about the murders in the house because they might react bad, well duh, who wouldn't.

2 families who lived in the house disappeared, as did Tommy, but where are their bodies. David doesn't leave the house so he couldn't bury them so they are either in the house (and would stink to high heaven) or David ate them. Hell, making him a cannibal might have helped make this flop a bit scary. 2 families disappear and no one or the cops seem to think anything is wrong. All their belongings were left behind, and since David doesn't go outside, their cars must have been left as well. So they must have just walked away from their mortgage, literally.

But the ending... surely a classic. They know someone is in the house and the cops come to save the day. Ray had been clawed in the head earlier and surely must have been near comatose, but the cops, and the family, thought that in that condition he could do what he did, hanging the Dad, etc... No one even suspected anyone else. Circumstance once again prove that David is still in the house and they called the cops or set off the alarm again, right? Nope, they ignore the danger that could await them. Stepmom ends up dead, as does Dad and Hannah? Stands there crying for her Daddy instead of trying to escape and presumably gets snuffed out. A far better ending? After the cops leave and all appears well, Hannah is in her room loading her luggage and listening to music, Dad and StepMom are consoling each other in their bedroom and we cut back to Hannah. She hears what sounds like something smashing and calls out to her parents, but all is silent. She calls out again, but still no answer. She calls out for a third time as she opens her door to find her boyfriend Tommy standing there covered in blood. He falls to his knees revealing David standing there holding her parents severed heads. Hannah opens her mouth to scream and the movie cuts away to a street shot of the house with a muffled scream in the background. The End.

The actors deserved far better than the terrible directorial effort they received. You eventually get tired of watching Hannah slowly walking through every room rolling her head and eyes to the left and then the right every time she suspects someone was in the house. Overall an uninspiring train wreck of a movie which was described as a horror thriller, but which was neither thrilling or horror. Even the 4 I gave it was generous. Even "The Intruders," which was far from being a masterpiece itself, had a better ending.

The Cat

[michael-x-jackson-x-eva-x · 1/10 · 19 September 2018]

Still don't know what happened to Monty?? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Seriously what was this movie!

[darkmomo-81831 · 1/10 · 7 October 2021]

Let me preface this by saying I loved the concept. There's nothing I find more entertaining than this concept and when you think a horror movie is one thing but it turns into something else.

This? This wasn't it. Seriously the dumbest people making the dumbest decision with the dumbest ending. I just can't.

Ugh. Just terrible

[S_Soma · 3/10 · 1 November 2016]

Within the horror/thriller genre there is the well-known, often-made subtype of the "undetected psychopath living in your house". "Within" is an example of this subtype.

As is de rigueur within this subtype, the psychopath in "Within" can move perfectly silently throughout the house, floating about within the walls as easy as you or I could move through the regular living space. The villain has nearly superhuman strength and is a very capable fighter and seeks to psych us out with terrible hair and animalistic snarls and growls. His warrior skills with various household accoutrement (knives, hammers, ropes, cords, etc.) easily qualify as an advanced martial art of its own.

As is my habit, I rate movies on a scale relative to what they tried to be, and this accounts for the 3 stars I gave "Within"; it's not even a decent example of its genre subtype. Being a Warner Bros. product, the production values are characteristically excellent. But that's the only positive thing you can say about it. It's quite possible for a movie that invents nothing new to get a very high score with me by simply being a very well done example of what it tried to be. As for "Within", not only is it not original in any way, it's a simply god-awful example of its genre and subtype. The "twist" at the end is taken wholesale from "The Silence of the Lambs".

The movie is excessively lazy to the extreme. All of the characters are tropes of their stereotypes and nothing else. Every plot movement depends upon stupid characters acting stupidly to the situation at hand in order for the story to move forward. Two examples out of the endless list:

1. The family in the movie has been victimized by not one but two completely separate sociopaths, and yet still takes no special pains to protect themselves by either careful behavior or the acquisition of any weapons they could use to protect themselves.

2. In the climactic scene at the very end of the picture where the primary sociopath is attacking the family, obligatorily every member of the family goes out of their way to behave like a complete moron. Every move they make occurs within a complete situational vacuum and in utter ignorance of the LEAST situational awareness. They focus their attention fixedly in some direction and patiently wait for the psychopath to pop out of the dark behind them and poke them with some sharp object. EEK… I'm dead.

Literally EVERYTHING the family does during the climax battle scene simply serves to infuriate and frustrate the viewer. Where we're supposed to be amped-up and terrified, the psychopath has lost our interest. We're preocupied being angry at the movie for troping and stereotyping us viewers to death. As if it's NOT POSSIBLE to write a good story that DOESN'T consist of an endless chain of clichés fired at the audience like machine-gun bullets.

The only way anyone could possibly enjoy this movie is if you were 12 and had never previously even heard of the "undetected psychopath living in your house" movie type.

Great movie

[jenniferlewis-93198 · 7/10 · 3 October 2017]

I don't understand these bad ratings.I liked this movie so much I re- watched it with my daughter.I'm looking for it to watch again for Halloween.I've been a horror movie fan my entire life and thought this was great.I'm not talking about gore like the final destination smut.I think horror film fans should see this and I notice everyone now thinks they are a movie critic.Was a good movie and I ended up standing on my couch being scared.Just my two cents

Boring horror thriller

[Wizard-8 · 3/10 · 28 July 2018]

If you have some familiarity with made for television movies from the 1970s, you will probably see that this movie got inspiration from the 1974 made for television thriller "Bad Ronald". To their credit, the makers of the newer movie did manage to change a lot of things so that their movie couldn't be labelled a blatant rip-off. But during the course of their changes, they almost completely stripped away anything that could make this movie good. I don't really want to list any spoilers, but I will say that there are a significant number of plot holes that someone during the production should have spotted and have patched up before filming started. (For example: How did the antagonist get food when there were periods where no one was living in the house?) But what really sinks the movie is how boring and uneventful most of it is. After setting up the situation in the first few minutes, the next hour or so has practically nothing happen that advances the plot - it's just one mysterious incident after another, none of which is particularly scary or creepy. Things do start to happen in the last twenty minutes, but it isn't enough to save things. If you want to see a superior movie that was inspired by "Bad Ronald", look for the Gary Busey movie "Hider in the House" instead.

Not a bad movie, but could be better.

[jpickettiii · 6/10 · 11 November 2020]

Not a bad movie, needed some direction. Also reminded me of the movie "The Boy". Also what happened to the cat???

Save yourself

[bobbellacicco · 1/10 · 5 July 2018]

Save yourself because the characters couldn't figure it out. I've never reviewed a movie but I had to leave a warning about this one. Worst ending EVER! this movie was so-so then crashed hard.

Avg start but horror ending

[jerryjohn-21567 · 8/10 · 31 October 2019]

As the title itself said, movie starts as any average horror movie plot but it slowly picks up and the in the end 25-30 mins is very scary.

Although there might still be some questions unexplained

1) were did Monty went 2) where was the body of key locker kept ? 3) how come police completed investigation in a place without thorough checking.

Great scary movie. No spoilers! If you like a good scary movie, catch this one!

[Ducsoup · 6/10 · 21 October 2016]

The best way to start this review about this particular movie is to remind you that patience is a virtue and that your patience will pay off in a big way!

My true review is a 6.9. Only because my 7's and up are reserved for the cream of the crop, but this one comes pretty darn close. (10 being a holy grail) Keep an open mind because if you're like me and enjoy being scared a little and like looking behind every door and under every bed for a good scare, then you'll enjoy this film.

Don't worry about any reviews you might read about this being similar to another story or two you've already seen. So what. This is a new story and very well done. No frills or major movie stars or catchy music theme, just a real good story with plenty of suspense that'll hold you to the very edge with the perfect number of gotchas and twists.

Take it from the cat

[teamodro · 1/10 · 18 June 2021]

Ive solved the problem of the missing cat. It realized this movie was so bad it just ran away. Take a page from it and stay away from this one. I knew exactly what was happening from 20 minutes in, and stupidly pushed on.....thats on me.

Wildly unoriginal, with a twist that somehow makes it worse

[broartwar · 3/10 · 5 July 2018]

This movie starts out with just about every cliche you could think of. Seemingly haunted house, and a creepy locksmith guy. The only thing that got me to the twist was just how played out the plot was. The good news is that there is a twist. The bad news is that the twist is done in such a laughably bad way.

The twist creates so many plot holes. The worst scene for me, is when the missing boyfriend gets shot by the police. The policeman enters the attic and says "is anywhere there?" so the boyfriend comes running out screaming like a damn madman and gets shot. The only explanation is that he had been passed out right up until that moment. If he had been conscious, he would have seen the father and the attic person fighting, just sitting there. Otherwise, why not help in the fight? or run away? why wait until there is a cop then run up to him waving your arms around "arrrrrgh".

This whole movie was terrible. I actually created this account just to vent on how awful this was. I will now list some things that were just terrible.

-the house was on fire for a while but at the end they seemed to show the house normal as if they were hoping for a sequel -the locksmith guy was pretty much pointless -the malnourished attic dweller has superhuman strength(only when he is pulling bodies from a rope. but NOT when wrestling with someone face to face.. then he is just slightly stronger than the dad and slightly stronger than the daughter) -the girl gets roofied and ends up in her bed for no reason -the police just leave after they find the guy. don't investigate whatsoever just say "this happens more than you think. well we are going to go now dont worry you're safe. People hardly ever get murdered after we do a 2 second sweep of the attic" are you going to check for maybe you know dead bodies or evidence. "nope" -the boyfriends parents dont seem to care he never comes back -drywall is super easy to break and would be very easy to get her out of the wall -so much startled screaming with no running -"i see him in the reflection in a vulnerable position. Lets wait until hes out of sight to go get help" -im taking this from another reviewer but while being pulled backwards with her hands on doorknob she somehow closes the door. -walls arent made like that, as well as floors.

Overall bad job by everyone.

Do not see this movie!

[martin_mix · 1/10 · 5 November 2016]

It's awful, but not the kind of "so bad it's good" awful. It's just awful. Don't waste any time or money on this movie. For the first time ever, I'm going to ask Directv for my money back. You have to believe the police are idiots, disregard any understanding you have about how homes are built, suspend any understanding of human behavior, forget anything you know about human anatomy, and then accept a ton of holes in the plot, setting, and timing of events to even get through this piece of trash. When people go missing, nobody bothers looking for them or even trying to contact them. Police don't investigate crime scenes. When someone is coming to kill you, you don't run, you just scream "no". When you're holding the knob of an open door and someone pulls you from behind, you someone push the door closed. People can live for more than a decade in an intermittently abandoned home without ever having to venture out for anything. Oh, and dead bodies don't smell, even after days of sitting around, or maybe people just disappear when you kill them. These are some of the things you have to accept for this movie to work and it's an incomplete list. Don't. Just don't.

The Boy, but badly written with bad plots, and worst ending

[emirfithri-12517 · 1/10 · 18 September 2021]

Don't waste your time. If you was forced to watch this movie, just lie and get out of it, your life depends on it.

A family moves into a new house, and found strange things happening inside the house. Sure enough, there is a man living inside the walls and ceilings.

This man is psychotic, with severe agoraphobia (fear of open space). He had a soft spot for the girl, watching her sleep and actually drugged her so he could spoon with her on her bed.

The whole family eventually found out about this man, but instead of calling the cops, they play hide and seek with their kidnapped daughter and the psycho in the walls.

All of them ended dead at the end. And that's the end of the movie. Like I said, you just saved yourself an hour and a half by reading me review. Totally rubbish movie, ever made.

Good, but contains a terrible ending.

[nathanhugo · 2 September 2017]

Within is a good short horror Thriller that has plenty of scares,if your looking for a movie with a story line this is not it,but everything else is quite good ignore other reviews this movie is watchable.The acting is OK but all else it makes a pretty good Thriller,the only other that could be fixed is the ending. Spoiler :

Don't expect a happy ending

It could happen to you

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 19 August 2019]

Well if you act quite unnaturally that is, but then again the movie likes to point out that at least to a lesser degree, since poverty has gone up, people might do weird things. And I would consider what happens here weird at least. And while the movie does achieve to build up tension and hold it mostly throughout the movie, the ending ... well that is not so good.

Very convinient things are happening and very bad behaviour is coming up. Now during "action"/stunt scenes or when the tension is high some may not think about what they are seeing ... but if you don't question the way the characters "act" towards the end ... well frankly you are better off and probably will enjoy this even more. For me the ending almost spoiled the whole thing completely

-67 stars?

[keenanbewley · 1/10 · 28 August 2018]

*POTENTIAL OBVIOUS SPOILERS NOTHING TO RUIN MOVIE*

Had potential. A lot like how "The Boy" Had potential. Decent execution and overall uneasy feeling to the movie but as all horror movies fall short on is the ending. As with 95% of horrors the ending just kept getting worse and worse in the last 10 minutes. If you don't like bad endings, don't watch. If you like a movie with a pretty good first 3/4 and don't mind a bad ending, enjoy.

Great for a small budget horror

[moorekr9 · 7/10 · 8 April 2018]

This movie isn't full of top level talent or any sort of incredibly new premise, but, as an avid horror film watcher, this one really surprised and impressed me. It's been done before but there's just something about these types of premises that just freak me out. I typically give most horror movies a chance just purely out of a lack of quality films and my undying quest to find horror films that actually scare me. This definitely looked like a classic mediocre movie that would be enjoyable as long as you go in with an understanding that it won't be phenomenal -we all know the type. This movie really impressed me. Itreally held it's own in keeping the pace just slow enough to build the suspense but fast enough to keep me intrigued. I think the ending isn't really too unpredictable but creepy as hell nonetheless. I'm guessing fellow dedicated horror fans are the ones checking into this movie and it's reviews so I really would just recommend that you give it a shot. It's definitely an under-the-radar gem.

Without

[dcarsonhagy · 2/10 · 2 April 2017]

Completely predictable unimaginative yawner that MIGHT scare a group of 10 year-old bored children. Doubtful, but you never know.

Dad, stepmom, and a "I've-got-the-red-ass-for-no-apparent-reason" teenager move into a "haunted" house, which isn't haunted at all. As soon as the movie starts, you know something isn't right about this house...you just can't put your finger on it. Cue really creepy neighbor, who the numskull dad allows to install new locks. I won't go any further, but you'll be able to figure this one out.

First, this movie is NOT scary as the director manages to build no tension. Even your average "jump scares" don't usually work here. The script needed MAJOR revisions. Here, the police are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine, and nobody wakes up when a stranger decides to rest over them in bed.

The movie is rated "R" and should have been PG-13. There is nothing much here for anyone. If you want to see a really scary movie, I suggest "The Blackcoat's Daughter." Otherwise, if you'd like to be put to sleep, this is your picture.

Scary? Yes

[sgdptech · 9/10 · 3 April 2017]

When I viewed this Movie on HBO yesterday, I was completely flummoxed and thrown for a loop while trying to make sense of the ending, like who was the person that was shot by the cops, and how come there was still one more nut job left within the walls.

The Movie seems to hint at a supernatural plot from the beginning, but starts veering off towards a Thriller soon after. There were a few scenes that suggested an entity that could move about the house totally unnoticed by anyone, and appeared to have super strength and blinding speed.

I was elated when the locksmith was claw hammered in the head, but couldn't understand how the assailant got himself and the corpse up the attic in what seemed to be mere seconds without making any discernible noise whatsoever.

The unbelieving Parents bit has become somewhat passe over the many movies that continue to use it, maybe it's about time Producers start to come up with other ideas to keep thrillers or supernatural movies more interesting and appealing to the audiences.

It's a total shame that the gorgeous and vivacious wife and daughter had to "buy the farm" in the end. Don't get me wrong, the movie has lots of "jump in your chair moments"...but I still think this movie would have played out much better if it had been of the supernatural flavor instead.

Most movies are not a 1 or a 10!

[davidccooke-78715 · 6/10 · 2 June 2021]

I had to create an account because I am tired of people rating movies as either a 1 or a 10 when they don't deserve to be at either extreme. This movie did not have an original plot and was not perfect. But it definitely was not a 1. I almost listened to all the negative reviews and didn't watch it. But I'm glad I did, as it was a slightly above average horror movie. And there aren't enough of those around for us horror movie fans. There are so many movies out there far worse than this one, where the acting, writing and special effects are truly horrible. This movie was well acted and the camera work was great. There were times when it was a bit slow or predictable, but the ending was very intense and made the movie worth a watch

People please...a 10 should be for one of the best movies you have ever seen. A 1 should be for something that has no redeeming quality whatsoever. The other 95 % of movies should be some other number in between!

Boring...

[cturney-96184 · 3/10 · 9 July 2018]

This movie was boring, too predictable, and unfinished scenes. Why did no one find the apple the creepy neighbour took a bite out of? What was the reasoning for that scene. Whatever happened to Hannah's cat?

Horrible ending!!!

It went downhill so fast that no one had a chance...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 20 November 2016]

"Within" actually started out quite nice, and it had the potential to be a somewhat good horror movie. It was the creepy moments with stuff happening around the house that was working out quite well. However, it all came to an abrupt halt when the audience was shown what was really happening in the house.

Wow, are you kidding me? That movie went from being quite good and entertaining to becoming a ridiculous heap of a stupid movie in an instant when it was revealed just exactly what was going on.

The story told in "Within" is about a family that has moved to a new house. However, shortly after the have moved in, strange things start to happen in the house.

"Within" had potential to be a great horror movie, if director Phil Claydon had opted to keep it in a supernatural genre. But no, that was not to be.

The acting in the movie was adequate, although it wasn't particularly memorable. But given what people had to work with, they managed to do well enough.

This was a bucket of ice water to the face, because what started out as a great spooky movie quickly took a turn and went into ridiculous-town. There is nothing worthwhile to be had here, so I can't think of a single reason for recommending this movie to anyone.

After an abysmal forage into what turned out to be a waste of time, my rating of "Within" ends of a meager three out of ten stars.