The film is not without its slow patches. The second act leans heavily into domestic drama, as Ella tries to figure out why her husband is sleepwalking to the attic ladder, mumbling "I didn't mean to forget her." While Sweeney is excellent as the desperate wife who realizes she married a stranger, the marital arguments feel slightly recycled from The Shining or Hereditary . We get about 20 minutes of "You're changing!" / "You don't believe me!" that could have been trimmed for more attic exploration.
Additionally, the film relies a bit too much on the "scratched record" trope. The humming child gets a little less eerie the fifth time it plays. forbidden attic movie
We follow Ben and Ella (played with raw, tired authenticity by John Boyega and Sydney Sweeney), a married couple on the brink of divorce. To salvage their relationship, they attempt a "financial reset"—moving into a remote, inherited Victorian in the damp woods of the Pacific Northwest. The house is a character itself: peeling wallpaper, radiators that clank like knuckles, and a narrow, folding wooden staircase that leads to a sealed attic door. The film is not without its slow patches