Hold Your Breath (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – In 1930s Oklahoma amid the region’s horrific dust storms, a woman (Sarah Paulson) is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family.

My Take – At first glance, this feature debut of directing duo Karrie Crouse and Will Joines has a lot going for it.

There are elements of folk horror that is all the rage currently, a central story of grief, yet another aspect that has been a part of many recent horror flicks, a mystical character called the gray man, a figure that comes and goes, slipping through cracks in the door and windows with threats of possession and fear, and of course, dust, lots of it, that dominates the film as if it was a character itself.

Yet, these elements don’t really come together in the form of a cohesive story. While it starts off as an intriguing slow burn feature, it takes some quick turns in the third act that seem to come out of nowhere and the entire movie falls apart.

Becoming one of those films that have a really interesting concept and some really good set up, but doesn’t really do a good job on being creative thereon and ends up being basic and predictable in every way.

Sure, the performances are solid and Sarah Paulson continues to be great with her personality and emotional depth acting, but the central character is not enough for the story to vindicate the effort and talent delivered by the actress.

Set in 1933 Oklahoma, the story follows Margaret Bellum (Sarah Paulson), a housewife tasked with looking over the family’s desolate farm after her husband decides to find construction work elsewhere. Struggling to survive the dust bowl, she looks over her daughters Rose (Amiah Miller) and the mute Ollie (Alona Jane Robbins), a duty that proves increasingly difficult as their cow slowly stops producing milk and dust permeates every corner of their home.

Though her eldest, Rose, continuously pleads for them to join their father, Margaret is incapable of leaving. Her third daughter, Ada, previously died of scarlet fever and is buried under the sole gravestone on the property, which Margaret religiously, and futilely, cleanses of sediment with each passing day.

As the girls clutch a book containing region-specific ghost stories, one of which details an entity called The Gray Man, who is made entirely of dust, those who inhale even a single particle of him are forced to do terrible things, a mysterious preacher named Wallace Grady (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) shows up promising miracles.

The film’s most undeniable strength lies in its immersive depiction of the Dust Bowl. Directors Karrie Crouse and Will Joines paint a visceral portrait of this era, where towering dust storms engulf the landscape, transforming day into an eerie twilight. The dust itself becomes a tangible presence, a suffocating force that invades homes and psyches alike.

This visual motif, complemented by the haunting score and the film’s masterful sound design, creates an atmosphere of palpable dread and isolation. The scenario giving us unavoidable Covid-era anxiety as the family fear the impact of allowing too much dust in the house, nervously covering gaps to the outside and wearing masks to protect themselves.

Even the menacing swirl of the storm feels surprisingly grand and imposing. However, the script makes the fatal mistake of giving away the secret of a critical character too quickly. This is meant as misdirection. Where we end up at is of no great surprise and the beats of the reveal feel far too over-familiar at this particular trauma horror moment.

Even the inclusion of the gray man falls flat when it could’ve been chilling, and any forward momentum is stalled as the film resorts to red herrings, causing the third-act twist to feel like a cheap cliché.

Without a doubt, Sarah Paulson, a master of her craft, delivers a tour-de-force performance as her portrayal is nothing short of breathtaking, capturing Margaret’s vulnerability, resilience, and gradual descent into paranoia with remarkable nuance. Ebon Moss-Bachrach is also exemplary, and most of the film’s best scenes are owed to his and Paulson’s ability to feed off of each other’s energy.

Amiah Miller and Alona Jane Robbins are also strong throughout, making their presence felt despite facing experience actors. On the whole, ‘Hold Your Breath’ is a generic horror thwarted by an inconsistent vision and execution.