This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Hokey Hooky
Plot Overview
Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher)
is a third grade, milquetoast pupil at Maybrook
Elementary School in McCarren County, Pennsylvania. He
pays attention in class, turns in his homework on time, and
never causes any trouble. He doesn't join his classmates in
rowdy behavior nor does he hurry off to play when school lets out.
He just calmly goes about his business every day.
Come to stay a while in Alex's home
is his ailing aunt Gladys Lilly (Amy Madigan) who soon establishes
dominance over his dazed parents. She's the top dog now, and Alex
is compliant doing the shopping, cooking and household chores.
He follows his aunt's orders in the food department along the lines
of H.M. Naqvi, “the lunch fare appeared particularly
unappetizing: the soup du jour, Creme of Vegetable, was
the color and consistency of soap water” (191). Gladys
has withheld any knowledge of spices from him. He suffers from
Stockholm Syndrome implicitly following her every order
however odd. He is decidedly in her camp.
Things look up for him one day in school when none
of his tormentors show up. Since his whole class was bullying him,
that means nobody but he was there. The parents are stumped, the
police are stymied, and the canine unit is perplexed. His teacher
Mrs Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) who loves her students gets
blamed by the community for their sudden disappearance,
but the police have found nothing linking her to it.
Archer (Josh Brolin)
an impatient parent & construction contractor does his own
investigation. He marks out on a town plat the directions the
kids took, seen on doorbell cams
running away with their distinctive ‘airplane’ pose.
The lines converge on a block-size area. When Justine sees the map,
she recognizes the spot as including the shrouded house where Alex
lives whom she'd followed home one day. They stake it out. The town
was on edge enough when the careful cops were in command, but
things become really hairy when amateurs get involved.
Ideology
Like some woo woo cosmic karma, it looks like the class bullying came back on the bullies. It is Matt the son of Archer who gets recovered first—if any of them does—and he was the only one who'd got caught bullying and then punished for it. It's as if he gets early release now for having been punished in part already. But several of the townsmen get comeuppance for their sins or faults developed deliberately in a series of vignettes:
Justine had a prior record of DUI & inappropriate relations with a staff member at another school. She is back on the bottle and has friendly relations—read an affair—with a married copper.
Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich) is the policeman she's having the
affair with. He's also heavy handed in the arrest
detention of doper/burglar James (Austin Abrams) who hits the Lilly
house thinking the occupants are away. He lies to the police.
Donna (June Diane Raphael) Paul's wife is on the outs with him.
Archer is a building contractor who uses cut-rate materials to cheat his clients.
The school principal Andrew Milla (Benedict Wong) follows protocol to conduct an in-home welfare check with the Lillys in response to a complaint, but he takes his time when even his secretary perceives there is something seriously wrong with the aunt who comes in to make the appointment.
The Lilly parents were outwardly welcoming of the man's needy sister, but theirs was a grudging hospitality.
That brings us to Gladys who comes to the Lillys' to get off the streets and to improve her health but seems to be the source of a lot of mischief. (Prov. 13:17) “A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health.” Her health further declines, but resourceful Alex comes out unscathed.
Production Values
“” (2025) was written and directed by Zach Cregger. It stars Julia Garner, Josh Brolin and Alden Ehrenreich. All the cast were great but it's Amy Madigan, playing the eccentric aunt, who steals the show.
MPA rated it R for strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use. The plot is a puzzle to be put together as it winds up. The horror is as good as it gets; any scarier and I'd leave the theater. The film is technically well made. The cinematography and locations are atmospheric, and the sparse use of music punctuated by silence is poignant. The pacing was slow enough to allow us to piece it together if we're up to the challenge. Runtime is 2 hours 8 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
I suppose this one could serve as a lesson not to hold onto secret vices. The Quakers who settled Pennsylvania are credited with the notion of the penitentiary where penitents are incarcerated to contemplate their sins and reform.
As horror films go it's as good as it gets for summer viewing.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action-packed frights. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone. Overall movie rating: Four and a half stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Naqvi, H.M. Home Boy. Copyright © 2009 by H. M. Naqvi. New York: Shaye Areheart Books, 2009. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org