Common Sense Media Review
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Routine, gory thriller with unappealing teen characters.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Recovery
What's the Story?
In RECOVERY, Jessie (Kirby Bliss Blanton) thinks she has a new boyfriend ... until she attends a graduation party and sees him kissing someone else. A similarly jilted girl, Kim (Rachel DiPillo), invites Jessie to ditch the party and go dancing, and Jessie agrees. She invites another boy, Logan (Samuel Larsen), along, and her brother Miles (Alex Shaffer) talks his way into coming, too. After some drinking, dancing, and drugs, Kim disappears -- with Jessie's phone. Using a "recovery" app, the other three trace her to a creepy house, where a disfigured young man (James Landry Hebert) and his father (Michael Filipowich) are in the process of stalking and imprisoning young ladies to become part of their "family." And Jessie is their latest target.
Is It Any Good?
This gory thriller begins with selfish, unsympathetic characters and then takes them through a clumsy, routine "trapped in a house with a sadistic maniac" scenario with all its seams showing. Recovery shows just how skilled something like the similar-but-opposite Don't Breathe really is. That movie's characters were desperate but understandable outcasts -- rather than what we get here: spoiled, dishonest teens who are focused mainly on their own pleasures, identities, and possessions.
In the suspense sequences in Recovery,, the teens wander cluelessly through the house, supposedly looking for the phone and their friend but easily distracted. The filmmakers don't develop a sense of time or place, and so characters are left wandering for awkward lengths of time, can't seem to get from one place to another, and apparently can't hear anything, either. The best thing you can say about this movie is that, at the very least, it doesn't use shaky-cam or jump-scares, and its masked villain is somewhat effective (with his collection of Universal Monster posters, he may be more interesting than the protagonists).
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Recovery's violence. Is all of it necessary to the story? What's the impact of media violence on kids?
How are drinking and drug use portrayed? Are there realistic consequences? Why is that important?
How does the movie depict technology and social media? Do they have an upside or a downside?
Are the characters sympathetic? Why or why not? What, if anything, do they learn from their ordeal?
Movie Details
- In theaters : October 28, 2016
- On DVD or streaming : February 7, 2017
- Cast : Kirby Bliss Blanton , Samuel Larsen , Alex Shaffer
- Director : Darrell Wheat
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studios : Orion Pictures , Vertical Entertainment
- Genre : Horror
- Run time : 82 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : bloody horror violence, teen drug and alcohol use, and language including some sexual references
- Last updated : February 15, 2023
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