Parents' Guide to You Should Have Left

Though it uses a pretty basic, familiar haunted-house setup, this spooky horror/thriller benefits from crisp, unpretentious filmmaking, wasting little time on needless filler and getting right to it. Adapted (from a novella by Daniel Kehlmann) and directed by noted screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man, etc.), You Should Have Left reunites the director with star Bacon; they worked together two decades earlier on Stir of Echoes. Working within the Blumhouse template, Koepp keeps the production small, using some very simple, effective tricks to generate genuine spine tingles.

The house itself is truly unsettling in the way that doors and odd angles tend to obscure certain images, keeping viewers off-balance. In a way, the house's sheer physical presence is even spookier than more typical tricks like shadows on the wall or reflections that move on their own. The human story works, too, and, even as simple as it is, the three main performers fill in the blanks on a troubled family dynamic. Bacon embodies jealousy and uncertainty, while Seyfried exemplifies carefree playfulness mixed with secrecy. Certainly You Should Have Left doesn't break any new ground, but it's a fine example of a solidly creepy chiller that should please horror hounds.