We Need to Do Something Blu-ray Review

Something… Different

We Need To Do Something is an unconventional horror flick. A frustrating watch with primarily unlikable characters, it’s not especially well-crafted outside of a few harrowing scenes and genre thrills. A family with unresolved tensions beneath its surface are trapped in their home for several days, cut off from contact with the outside world.

Director Sean O’Grady’s occult thriller heavily relies on suggestion and a claustrophobic atmosphere for psychological terror. A few decent ideas bubble up in the raw indie production but nothing is fully realized. Alternating between tedious family drama and almost stupidly unpredictable horror, We Need To Do Something fails at maintaining a credible suspension of disbelief.

We Need To Do Something fails at maintaining a credible suspension of disbelief

Feuding parents Robert (Pat Healy) and Diane (Vinessa Shaw) ride out a sudden storm in their suburban home’s palatial bathroom with their two children, teenager Melissa (Sierra McCormick) and the younger Bobby. Believing it’s just passing weather, the family becomes trapped inside their home with no working phone. There’s almost nothing more terrifying in the world today than a teenager denied access to social media…

The family soon falls apart as it becomes clear to everyone that a strange, unidentified evil is lurking outside for them. A couple of serious curve balls are thrown at the family’s growing desperation and anxiety. What began as an inconvenience becomes a nightmare filled with internal angst and shocking terrors.

We Need To Do Something takes a disjointed, grab-bag approach to its scares which does and doesn’t work. Despite the entire plot being staged inside a bathroom, filmmaker Sean O’Grady dabbles in several different types of horror. The half-baked screenplay crosses the attitude and rampant mistrust of The Mist with demons, snakes, monsters, and other possible boogeymen lurking outside. The film goes for the jugular when necessary, its single biggest strength. There are no sacred cows in the haphazard and often surprising action.

A critical problem is a narrative often driven by the extremely unlikable father, played to the hilt with an uneven performance by Pat Healy. Robert slowly descends into madness, a husband and father who acts as an unrepentant jerk. He’s a lazy caricature with little depth. The father should have been more sympathetic.

The intention seems to have been for audiences to identify with Melissa and her struggles. The other family members are mostly there as victims. She’s a shy teenager who befriends a moody emo girl at school, which unexpectedly becomes a key sub-plot. The teen friends dabble in dark forces they barely understand.

The emotional struggles of a suburban family are laid bare in We Need To Do Something. Its one-dimensional characters lack the necessary refinement and intriguing development needed to pull off this sort of high-concept horror. There’s probably a workable, compelling movie somewhere inside this unique premise but that would require a new cast and better writing.

Video

Decent definition and nigh pristine clarity mark the fine 1.66:1 presentation. The main feature runs a long 96 minutes on a BD-25, encoded in serviceable AVC. The new 2021 indie film’s video quality reflects solid cinematography made with atmosphere and tension in mind. Close-ups reveal excellent, razor-sharp detail.

The IFC Midnight film is released on BD by RLJ Entertainment. They provide a clean transfer from the digital intermediate to 1080p video with no problems. Slight limitations in the source material pop up in the more chaotic and dimly lit horror scenes.

Audio

5.1 DTS-HD MA audio showcases a fairly active mix with discrete sound design, producing effective sonic frights. There’s substantial bottom-end for more threatening scenes. Surround channels are sparingly used but help turn up the suspense.

Quiet dialogue passages as the family descends into chaos are perfectly intelligible. Dynamics are nice and wide, elevating the higher registers. A low-key, somber score provides moody backing.

Blink and you’ll miss Ozzy Osbourne voicing a demonic dog in one scene.

Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles play in a white font.

Extras

No special features are included. The back cover lists Region A but other regions have not been tested.

Come True Trailer (01:50 in HD)

See For Me Trailer (02:31 in HD)

Demonic Trailer (02:15 in HD)

Full disclosure: This Blu-ray was provided by the label for review. This has not affected the editorial process. For information on how we handle review material, please visit our about us page.

The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 41 full resolution, uncompressed HD screen shots grabbed directly from the Blu-ray: