‘Don’t Move’ Review – Giant Arachnid Shines In Bloody Fun Creature Feature
Anastasia Elfman calls creature feature “Don’t Move” “A fun horror-with-heart thrill ride blending monstrous mayhem and wicked humor.”
As a lifelong creature-feature fan, I’m an easy mark for a movie with one simple premise: people versus a giant monster. Maclain Nelson’s Don’t Move understands the assignment and delivers the carnage of Final Destination, the spider chills of Stephen King’s IT miniseries, and the squirmy dark humor of Frank Marshall’s Arachnophobia. But underneath all the blood, guts, and webs, Don’t Move also has something I wasn’t necessarily expecting: heart.
Adapted from the novel by James Murray and Darren Wearmouth, Don’t Move follows Megan (Lyndsy Fonseca), a mother tormented by the recent death of her son and husband. She reluctantly joins a church group on their annual retreat into the Ozark wilderness. Tensions in the group escalate as Megan struggles with frightening hallucinations of her dead family. Pesky troublemaker Ricky, played by rapper Russell “Russ” Vitale, suddenly joins the trip uninvited. But these issues soon become the least of their problems after missing a turn and wandering into the wrong stretch of forest; they slowly discover they aren’t alone, and what’s hunting them might not be human.
When people begin disappearing, suspicion initially falls on argumentative Ricky. Unfortunately for everyone, the real culprit has eight legs and an insatiable appetite. Hidden among a maze of webs is a massive, centuries-old arachnid that has been stalking the group and picking them off one by one. Megan is thrust into mama bear mode, fighting to keep herself and fellow survivors alive. Their relaxing camping trip becomes a desperate game of cat-and-mouse where the movie’s title doubles as its most important rule: “Don’t Move!”
I caught the film during its Hollywood premiere at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre, and it’s exactly the kind of monster movie that benefits from the big screen, a killer sound system, and an enthusiastic audience. There was something wonderfully nostalgic about sitting in a packed theater waiting for one very big, pissed-off arachnid to start ruining everyone’s vacation.
