Horror Movie Review: The Terrible Two (2018)

Written & directed by Billy Lewis, The Terrible Two is a paranormal horror that follows the young couple, Albert (Reid Doyle) and Rose Poe (Cari Moskow) as they move into a new house in a nice neighbourhood. When we first meet the couple, they’re checking out their potential new home. They seem happy & the house seems perfect for them.

The movie then jumps forward in time to the one-year anniversary of the death of the couples’ two little girls. A bizarre & tragic accident saw both girls die & the couple have struggled on since. Albert is trying to move forward but Rose is resistant to accepting the deaths, instead choosing to celebrate & talk to the girls as if they were still alive.

In a surprising turn of events, Rose is fairly aware of her actions & whenever Albert tries to intervene she’s quick to remind him that this helps her cope. Then actual unexplained things begin to happen, things that even Rose can’t understand. She starts to hope it’s the ghosts of her little girls but is it? Or is it something far more terrible?

On the basic plot The Terrible Two is a story that has been done time & time again. It seems predictable & the expectation is of the standard clichés of curses, religion or ancient burial grounds. The Terrible Two has all the hallmarks but takes it in a different, somewhat interesting direction. It’s a breath of fresh air to get different motivations for the whole ‘demonic spirits’ villains.

That being said, it’s still a bit of a mess. The plot, just doesn’t gel well together & it has shuddering halts in pace. Just when you think the movie might be going somewhere it pulls up sharply & veers off. This results in an uneven watch & will leave you scratching your head as to just what is going on now.

Thankfully as it reaches its finale, the ambiguity of the story fades & things are made a little clearer. It’s not perfect, there are still some questions left over but for the most part it’s a satisfying climax.

What isn’t so satisfying though the performances. Reid Doyle and Cari Moskow seem to struggle with the hammy dialogue & moments that should have emotional weight, don’t. Doyle in particular really struggles to get emotion across (just check out his reaction to the discovery of his dead children).

This makes it harder to invest in them as characters & their chemistry feels off but ultimately the reason you’re watching this is for the scares. Well, the bad news is that it’s really light on them. It manages to build a little tension but with the hap-hazard plot, this often goes nowhere. The ‘creepy kids’ trope has been done & while the masks they wear do make them more sinister it’s still not going to live long in the memory.

The Terrible Two will be released on VOD March 6th 2018.