Helen Hunt Filmography Part 22: The Scaries
Helen Hunt faces our worst fears in a couple of thrillers.
The first half of this movie is pretty creepy. The score is ominous and foreboding. The camera angles imply an unseen, watchful presence lurking somewhere in the house.
The movie initially foregrounds the common parental fear of one’s child going missing—most horrifically, but fortunately least likely—at the hands of a serial killer.
It makes a subtle shift to a different parental fear—having a child do something so horrible that it will ruin the rest of their life, and you can’t or shouldn’t save them from the consequences.
Both fears turn on the terror of losing control over the safety and future of one’s child. There is a feeling of helplessness at being unable to prevent them going down a dark path, and an inevitability to knowing that you will do anything to save them.
Tye Sheridan plays Bart, an autistic young man who works as the night clerk at a hotel. He also uses voyeurism to help build his social skills. Ana de Armas shows up as the mysterious femme fatale that upends Bart’s world.
One night someone is murdered at the hotel and the case turns on what Bart saw—or did. Helen Hunt plays his mother, Ethel, who wants to protect her son from misunderstandings that could have serious consequences.
Helen Hunt isn’t in this very much, but despite that, this is a well done thriller. There are enough twists to keep you guessing. And Bart’s autism makes the character inscrutable and vulnerable, which keeps you on edge, uncertain, and sympathetic towards him.
