We Might Hurt Each Other review.
Lithuania brings us a slasher movie that blends original ideas with a familiar premise. The resulting mix of unexpected moments and satiated expectations delivers a winner.
Streaming exclusively on Screambox July 11
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
We Might Hurt Each Other
Directed by Jonas Trukanas
Written by Titas Laucius and Jonas Trukanas
Starring Sarunas Rapolas Meliesius, Ganija Barailaite, Marius Repsys and Donatas Simukauskas
We Might Hurt Each Other Review
We Might Hurt Each Other sets a complex character into a deceptively simple plot. Fans of slasher movies will feel right at home at this party in the woods. With a killer that resembles Jason Voorhees and piles up an impressive body count, We Might Hurt Each Other could have easily felt like just another knockoff. It’s decision to replace the final girl trope with a problematic male lead, however, allows it to carry a few surprises up its sleeve.
It’s graduation day for Marius (Sarunas Rapolas Meliesius) and his classmates. When they appear to have been scammed out of the location they rented for a party…Marius steps up with a cottage in the woods. Strange wood carvings at the site become targets of destruction for the partying teens. Something that doesn’t sit well with the masked man who carved them. A bunch of teens partying in the woods with a masked killer out for revenge? What could go wrong.
The setup of We Might Hurt Each Other is straight out of the 80s slasher craze. I mean that in a good way. So is the design of the masked man who will slash his way through the graduating class. From behind you’d swear you were watching Jason hacking up camp counselors. Fans of those peak era slasher films will find plenty of what they love here.
What they won’t find, however, is a final girl. That’s not a spoiler. There is no character presented who you ever believe will emerge as the one to face off with and overcome the monster. The exclusion sets everything in We Might Hurt Each Other a little off kilter. In a good way. Without the tropes to fall back on…you wonder how exactly this is going to go.
That’s not to say we don’t have characters to follow. Marius is the lead…and he is a troubling one. There’s something off about him from the start. Even the killer seems to recognize it and doesn’t attack him like the others. It’s an interesting storyline. A lead that isn’t in danger…and he doesn’t know why. Marius’s story takes some interesting and unexpected turns. The reason the killer spares him during his rampages makes sense when it’s revealed. Implying a depth to the killer’s story we hadn’t gotten yet…and a comment on what he sees in Marius.
Along for the party are Marius’s best friend Vytas (Povilas Jatkevicius) and his crush Saule (Saule Rasimaite). Budding NBA draftee Rimas (Kipras Masidlauskas) and his girlfriend Brigita (Gabija Bargailaite). Dozens of other characters populate the party…but those are the most important ones because of how they relate to Marius. Rimas is the star he could never be. His own father sees him in a diminishing light by comparison. Brigita is the girl he could never get. He shoots his shot in We Might Hurt Each Other…to interesting effect. Vytas is the hero he could never be…rushing away from safety to save Saule while Marius paddles away from shore.
There is a lot of death in We Might Hurt Each Other. A lot. It takes some time for the real party to start…but once it does, we get wall to wall slasher killer hijinks. Though the kills aren’t all memorable…but they are plentiful. Some standard cat and mouse, chase scenes and heroic moments fill out what we expect from a slasher story in the woods.
What we don’t expect is to wonder what is going on with our main character for as long as we do. Marius is a hard person to pin down. He elevates the standard ideas because we are always unsure of what to do with him. We do eventually find out what the killer wants with him and even get a Friday the 13th like “fight the killer with psychology” bit. These, along with Marius’s nature, are the unexpected pieces that make We Might Hurt Each Other into more than meets the eye.
One thing that meets the eye, by the way, is a gorgeously shot movie. We Might Hurt Each Other is always visually interesting. Some breathtaking shot compositions are used. A level to which slasher movies rarely deliver. It even comes up with a clever solution to removing cell phones from the equation. With a fresh take on a classic idea…We Might Have to Hurt Each Other delivers plenty of what you expect…and enough things that you don’t.
Scare Value
We Might Hurt Each Other eschews the final girl trope entirely to focus on the strange bond between its killer and main character. Assembling a large group of dispatchable characters for an old school slasher in the woods brings what we want and expect from the genre. Replacing the hero with a complicated lead character allows for the unexpected moments that elevate it.
3.5/5
We Might Hurt Each Other Link
Streaming on Screambox July 11
