Mark Reviews Movies: BEHIND YOU

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Review by Mark Dujsik | April 16, 2020

There's the distinct sense that writers/directors Andrew Mecham and Matthew Whedon are making up Behind You as they go. From its generic premise to its vague mythology, the movie's story is forgettable and slight, and there's also not much else to say about the more specific details, from the paper-thin characters to their imprecise histories.

It's technically a horror story, about some demonic presence that, well, just exists. The prologue gives us the basics, as a young girl is suddenly grabbed from behind by that invisible—except being able to see its reflection in mirrors—and ambiguous presence. Decades later, sisters Olivia (Addy Miller) and Claire (Elizabeth Birkner) arrive at that house to live with their aunt Beth (Jan Broberg) after their mother's death.

Most of the opening act is just wheel-spinning, establishing and re-establishing that Beth, who doesn't want her nieces to stay, and her neighbor/friend Charles (Philip Brodie) have a secret. Eventually Olivia discovers that the bathroom mirror has been covered in wallpaper (which is either lazy or counterintuitive, depending on whether mirrors house the demon or give one the ability to see it) and has a vision of a dead body in the tub.

Meanwhile, Claire follows what she believes to be her dead mother's voice into the basement, where Beth has hidden a lot of mirrors (Seriously, if they're the source of evil, destroy them, or if they're the only way to see the demon, place them everywhere). The voice tells the girl to recite an incantation, and the demon-thing gradually takes over Claire's body.

For as little material as there is here, the movie certainly takes its time getting to the alleged scares. Once it does, Mecham and Whedon are clearly in a rush to just keep those cheap fear-making attempts coming.

The basic setup of Behind You at least is simple enough that we have a broad understanding of what's happening, but it's as basic as basic setups can be, meaning the whole thing is a slog. As for the specifics, Beth has a handy book about the rules of the demon, which she only references well past its usefulness—as if it's just a helpful crutch for the filmmakers to fill in the blanks of their story's supernatural logistics. They never figure out that an invisible demon that can be stabbed isn't particularly scary.

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