Hulu's psychological horror captures the descent into paranoia and madness

The author Robert Scucci
| Published 28 seconds ago

I told myself a long time ago that I would stop looking for psychological horror movies based on the “unreliable protagonist”. Unfortunately, I didn't read my note while watching last year Hold your breath on Hulu. I can't say I'm mad at myself, but I'm disappointed that I was expecting something different, since this movie is set in 1930s Oklahoma after the Dust Bowl took over the once thriving farmland. destroyed by the elements.

But don't mistake the refreshing setting for all the trappings of the tropics Hold your breath:

The focus is on a grieving mother named Margaret Bellum (Sarah Paulson). Hold your breath is an exercise in numbers to explore the paranoia and sadness our protagonist experiences as she tries to fight off the dark forces that plan to take the lives of her children while her husband Henry (Bill Heck) works on a construction project. Philadelphia.

Familiar structure

Hold your breath wastes no time introducing a source of evil that will only vaguely question the validity of Margaret's experience. But if you're well-versed in psychological horror, you'll find yourself sitting with your Bingo card ticking all the boxes that make this film another generic, almost supernatural experience.

In a house covered from floor to ceiling in thick layers of dust, Margaret is raising her two daughters, Rose (Amy Miller) and Ollie (Alona Jane Robbins). Grieving after the death of her youngest daughter, Ada, Margaret takes prescribed sleeping medication to prevent her sleepwalking episodes after a psychotic break before the events that took place Hold your breath. At first, Margaret's mental health seems to be in check, but that all changes after Rose reads Ollie a horror story about a ghost lurking in the dust clouds called 'The Gray Man'.

The gray man

Knowing that The Gray Man is a work of fiction, Margaret dismisses her initial fears Hold your breath as a figment of a daughter's overactive imagination after reading a horror story. However, Margaret's imagination gets the best of her as she has heard of a drifter killing her neighbors in circumstances that mirror the events depicted in The Gray Man.

Shortly after learning of the gruesome crime, Margaret finds the drifter hiding in her barn, who reveals himself to be preacher Wallace (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).

Margaret becomes suspicious of Wallace when the circumstances surrounding his arrival do not add up. Wallace assures Margaret that her husband, Henry, sent him to check on his family when he passed through the Oklahoma Territory. Wallace, who has supernatural healing powers, threatens the Bellum family when his intentions are questioned, prompting Margaret to be on the lookout for any suspicious behavior.

Margaret stops taking her medication so she can be more careful, seals up her house and lives in hiding with her daughters, trying to ward off the evil spirit that has now taken over her family. As she grows more delusional by the day, Wallace's presence becomes a force of evil Hold your breath which come and go as quickly as the dust storms that have destroyed crops in previous years. As Margaret becomes increasingly paranoid, the line between fact and fiction becomes equally blurred as she begins to experience new episodes of sleepwalking.

A solid entry point, but not for aficionados

Hold your breath is one of those movies you'll want to show your friends who are interested in the psychological theme thrillersbut not yet tired of watching similar premises in other films occupying the subgenre. Boasting supernatural elements that seem to corroborate our protagonist's memories of the events, Hold your breath has a healthy amount of tense moments and jumps that will keep casual viewers on the edge of their seats.

However, more seasoned fans of psychological thrillers will begin to yawn as soon as things start to heat up, because I guarantee they've seen this familiar story involving an untrustworthy protagonist play out dozens of times, but under different circumstances.

Hold your breath is a Hulu Original Movie and you can stream it with an active subscription.