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» » He's Out There (2018)

Short summary

On vacation at a remote lake house, a mother and her two young daughters must fight for survival after falling into a terrifying and bizarre nightmare conceived by a psychopath.

Originally titled "Scarecrow," the script was featured in the 2014 Blood List, which lists the year's unproduced most-liked dark screenplays.

The film was dropped from a theatrical release and the directing credit changed from Dennis Iliadis who did Last House on the Left to a Quinn Lasher who has zero other credits to his name.

Screen Gems initially had distribution rights to the film, but dropped the film and was later acquired by Vertical Entertainment.

The hotel they were staying at in production, was abandoned at the beginning. A crew member was the only person in the hotel for the first weekend.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Mejora
    This movie is actually a love story gone wrong. A masked guy with talents in pastry and painting after living for a long time alone in a forest, falls in love with Yvonne Strahovski (can you blame him?). However, is she already has two very loud hyperactive kids that ruin the movie for everyone. In a futile attempt to fix the move and give himself a very happy ending he tries to bribe the kids with cupcakes and drawings. Kids get even louder, and the audience starts rooting for the masked avenger while checking out info on contraception at their mobiles. In the end our guy just gives up and will probably try to get it right in the next movie.
  • comment
    • Author: Rigiot
    In all honesty, if the kids weren't in this movie it wouldn't be that bad. The kids are annoying, whiny, and just terrible. We were rooting for them to go just so the movie wouldn't be a complete flop. Don't waste your time and money. Absolutely aweful and the grey scale on the film was as if a colorblind child did the editing.
  • comment
    • Author: Gadar
    Wow. So, mom and girls arrive at their isolated, lakeside vacation cabin with the promise of dad showing up late the same night. However, there is a lunatic lurking in the woods and he has some plans for the family. Will anyone survive? This is your plot.

    The thing that will irritate you most about this film is not the search for reasons why this lunatic is doing all this or the fact that children go into the woods and find a creepy "tea party" setup and think they should eat the food that has been laid out for who knows how long. The number one thing that will irritate you will be how the children are behaving. I have never seen a film that has kids that are so downright annoying. Mom can't even begin to figure out what to do because the girls are so distracting. "Mommy!' "Mommy, No!" "Don't leave us alone!" "I'm scared!" "Mommy, you're scaring me!" It just went on and on. I was ready for this guy to take the kids OUT.

    Aside from the kids, this isn't too bad. Location is right, timing is right and there were a couple of nice problematic scenarios setup. There isn't much of a story for the killer, simply meaning you won't find any explanations as to why things are happening. So, if you are looking for it to all come together in the end, you'll be disappointed. This would've been a much better film had there been more attention to how the kids were reacting and making sure that the story made a bit more sense.

    It's not just downright awful but it leaves something to be desired.
  • comment
    • Author: Zavevidi
    I like cheesy, predictable horror movies and this one fit right in. You have the female in distress with the added burden of taking care of her two kids during this nightmare. The kids, by the way, and extremely annoying with whining and crying. The predictable things happen but what we are left with is why. Why the yarn, why the wooden replicas of family, why the mask...and why after watching this family summer in this spooky old house for years does he decide now to terrorize them?? I don't like too much exposition in film but come on--a little can add to the story. We get none of that. Overall, it was an ok movie to pass and Sat. afternoon eating popcorn and Whoppers. But...certainly not great and nothing new here.
  • comment
    • Author: Dianazius
    Daddy can see us...when he gets here. But he's already here.

    Do you fancy a movie along the lines of "Hush" but with people who aren't mute? In short, a film in which there's a lot of screaming. And should there be co-stars who are simply mown down with a wicked-looking ax as in every "Friday the 13th" episode? Then "He's out there" might be something for you. However, if you are someone who expects a little explanation about why someone is terrorizing a family, then I'll have to disappoint you. Why Laura (Yvonne Strahovski) and her two daughters Kayla (Anna Pniowsky) and Maddie (Abigail Pniowsky) were suddenly attacked by an unknown, still remained a question mark in the end.

    "He's out there" certainly isn't a bad movie. The increasing tension ensures that you'll be sitting on the edge of your chair. It's a bit like "The wolf and the seven young goats", only the wolf is a lurid disguised person and the 7 goats are played by two irritating screaming girls. Now such a disguise as the maniac uses is nothing new in the slasher genre. Jason Voorhees had a hockey mask. Michael Myers a scary rubber mask. Leatherface wore a mask made with the flesh of his victims. The perpetrator in "He's out there" seems to be a cousin of "The Collector" in "The collection". Almost an identical disguise and the same used clothes.

    I like to watch such a typical slasher full of screaming victims. The least I expect though is a surprising denouement or a unique thought up slaughter as in "You're next". But in this film, the standard list for slasher movies is neatly checked off and there's no deviation from the standard formula. And then there's also the fact that there are just a few victims and nothing (but absolutely nothing) of background information is shared. That makes "He's out there" just a disappointing, simple, third-rate film. Even the end was so predictable that I had to sigh deeply. And to be honest, I also thought the denouement was a bit exaggerated.

    Is there something positive to report? Yes, there is. Yvonne Strahovski. And not only because she looks nice. She tries in a realistic way to give shape to a character who's terrified and at the same time tries to protect her two panicky children. So expect a lot of hiding and running away while screaming. Kind of stupid though. Because the person who wants to hurt them, always knows where they are. "He's out there" is like an ex-girlfriend. It was fun for a while, but then it turns out she wasn't so special. And before you know it, you are glad you got rid of her. And in no time you are looking for someone else and you have forgotten about her. Let's hope they aren't planning to make a sequel.
  • comment
    • Author: Yla
    Laura (Yvonne Strahovski) drives her car with her two young daughters Kayla (Anna Pniowsky) and Maddie (Abigail Pniowsky) to the remote lake house that belongs to her family. Her husband has an important meeting and will head later. Soon they are threatened by a psychopath and have to fight to survive. Will they succeed?

    "He's Out There" is a full of clichés horror film with a storyline with nothing new: a family trapped in danger in a remote area threatened by a masked psychopath. The performance of Yvonne Strahovski and the atmosphere are the best offered to the viewers. But on the other hand, there are two annoying girls that irritate any viewer with their attitudes, whining and screams. My vote is four.

    Title (Brazil): Not Available
  • comment
    • Author: GoodBuyMyFriends
    Date, have kids then you'll understand. Decent movie, similar plot to many out there but entertaining.
  • comment
    • Author: Kazijora
    This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Everything they set up has no payoff. I think the director is just scared of the outdoors and thinks showing a lake warrants a jump scare noise. There are no characters in this movie. Just mistake machines. No one has character traits and there's no reason for anything that happens.
  • comment
    • Author: Уou ll never walk alone
    Am i missing something here due to the poor reviews. I honestly didnt get people criticising the two young ladies but i have too say when you are constantly being terrorised by a complete deranged psychopath then maybe its understandable. The film had me and my wife gripped from start to finish. I would definately recommend as a terrifying horror flick.
  • comment
    • Author: Fordrekelv
    The child actors make this movie unwatchable. The director must have started each scene with I want you to scream, cry and talk at the top of your lungs at all times. Awful.
  • comment
    • Author: asAS
    First off, praised be for Yvonne, because she saved this from getting 1 star. Secondly, i'm not one to easily give into poorly rated films, especially poorly rated horror movies (discussed further down), but this was just plain, plain, plain bad.

    1st star for Yvonne. The only good actor / acting in this movie, with maybe the exception of the young girl (her youngest child in the film). Everyone else was complete crap.

    2nd star for the killer. At one point I was rooting for him, lmao. Jokes aside, the mask was pretty good in terms of it looking realistic enough, and the life size dolls were pretty creepy, but not enough to merit this a much higher rating as they weren't exactly utilised to their full potential, AND the killer himself, was pretty stupid.

    Furthermore, the writing / script of this movie was horrible & extremely cringey, as well as the fact that the (VERY) crappy acting from 99.99% of the cast didn't help either. Not to mention, there was approximately 1 minute of backstory to the killer, which was in the form of a somewhat irrelevant character, conversing with the family that a boy had gone missing years ago. 'He's Out There' gave off a Jason (not as good though) type of movie mixed in with a house invasion, but the storyline and writing failed this movie extremely.

    Laslty, LET'S NOT GET STARTED on the atrocious colour grading. Using a significantly desaturated colour gradient for the WHOLE duration of your film, makes it look less credible and like an ameteur high school film project atop of the crap acting & storyline. It does not help.

    PS. If you want to know what not to do in a horror movie, watch this! I've seen 100s & 100s of horror movies & I know they usually say there's alot of bad decisions or dumb people in it. I usually tolerate those as their not as bad as some make them out to be, but this movie had bad decision after bad decision every. single. freaking. minute (no exaggeration). I was hoping to enjoy this despite the rating, but no, just no.

    I only seriously recommend this if you're willing to sit through this for Yvonne. Otherwise, don't bother! You're wasting your time & money.

    • 2/10.
  • comment
    • Author: Dammy
    The premise is fairly simple, a mother takes her two daughters to the family vacation home, and they settle in waiting for dad to arrive. In the meantime, the girls go into the woods and find that someone has set up a tea party.

    What unfolds is a fairly standard stalker-slasher film which doesn't display any real uniqueness or innovation. We get a cat-and-mouse game between the psychotic killer and the family inside and outside of the house, with predictable set-pieces and outcomes.

    It could easily be 1 of 100 movies that are already available, and it doesn't stand out as superior in any way, in fact it has a real feeling of a made-for-daytime-tv feel which makes it easy to see why this was dropped as a cinematic/theatrical release.

    In the end, you are felt even more disappointed by a real lack of explanation or resolution. While you learn some (very minor) things about the villain, there's no great attempt to explain his motives or why he picked that night to carry out the events.

    Overall a rather boring, by-the-numbers, stalker-slasher film with predictable events, some below-par acting and some lazy script-writing, especially the extremely predictable ending just before the credits roll. Personally I'd suggest giving this one a miss.
  • comment
    • Author: Gavinrage
    Another film battered by viewers who obviously are here to have a laugh and wreck the ratings of solidly good films.

    I'm an avid horror fan myself and this when it comes to horror films I'm really hard to please. Although this was not he best horror film ever I would confidently recommend it to all fans of the genre - although it was not the most original film ever, it was well acted and directed ... and at moments it creeped the hell out of me (and I'm NOT easily scared)!!!
  • comment
    • Author: Natety
    Where do i start .. overacting by the two kids .. such a cliché horror movie .. almost seems like the scary movies series .. give this a pass ... not worth your time ..
  • comment
    • Author: Golkis
    Yes the kids were annoyingly loud throughout, but what do you expect when a masked man is trying to kill you? If you don't like screaming kids then you shouldn't watch it, but if you like a good horror movie you should watch it.
  • comment
    • Author: Zinnthi
    I don't know where the bad reviews are coming from! As a parent it had me on my seat I can feel the panic in the woman trying to protect her children I love the movie!
  • comment
    • Author: Berkohi
    This movie was a typical slasher and loud sound thriller. I would not recommend it because it's too gruesome. the plot is very weak and the ending is unfulfilling as the bad guy "got away". The only smart decision was casting yvonne since having watched handmaids tale i really appreciate her strong acting skills. however, this movie failed with its overrated thriller plot.
  • comment
    • Author: Samut
    I Was glad It wasn't a paranormal activity (haunted ghost house) movie and was a real man doing the terror ~ makes It more scary and believable. Takes you on a nice little ride! Nice movie for crisp fall day with Halloween approaching!
  • comment
    • Author: Fearlesssinger
    He's Out There: Yet another family go for a vacation to an isolated house, in the woods and yes, there's a lake nearby. The mother and two daughters arrive first with Daddy due to arrie that night. The children find red string attached to trees, this leads them to a tree stump with a tea party set on it. No hatters, dormice, hares or Alice about though. After that things turn strange. A nastier than usual axe maniac is about. This is a rather dark film, not really original in any way but it has some gruesome scenes and is quite dark. Passable horror film directed by Quinn Lasher. 6/10. On Netflix.
  • comment
    • Author: NiceOne
    I thought it was a decent horror a few jump scares,a bit predictable but I enjoyed it,didn't really explain why he wanted them dead,he mentioned he lived there when he was a little boy but nothing after, left you pondering Why?
  • comment
    • Author: Malaris
    Multiple scenes just wasnt realistic. A parent wouldve yelled at their child for wondering out into the street. But she don't and neither does the dad? C'mon Knowing a killers out there, mom decides to leave her kids in the closet after hearing noises in the house to get a car? Mom takes the time to unwrap multiple gifts to lure the killer to her when she's injured? I dont blame the actors but some of the scenes were ridiculous and the ending? So cliche.
  • comment
    • Author: Fohuginn
    Sometimes i don't understand a lot of ratings/reviews on some movies. This is one of those cases. I was not sure how to rate this movie cause i thought that 7 is too much but 6 is to low so i decide the 7. This "He's Out There" illustrates exactly what's been happening to a lot of (specially) US Horror movies in this decade. It starts very well, and until half of the movie we got the feeling that this is it. Finally a outstanding horror movie but then..... I start watching this film without any expectations. Surprisingly the first hour was very good/scary but in the case of this movie i thought that had too much drama specially on young caracters. To bad cause it change the rhythm of the sequences and sometimes it gets to much bored. Even in the young acting it's easy to realize that. Anyway, overall it was a good horror movie, nice acting by the young girls, and even the bad guy caracter was very well picked. Nuno Rocha. Portimão. Portugal
  • comment
    • Author: Kulalas
    Overall a cliched boring movie with very little suspense or real plot, no character development and pretty shoddy acting. Only redeeming aspect was the ending in my opinion. Save yourself the effort and watch Hush- a great serial killer/abandoned cabin type movie
  • comment
    • Author: Brialelis
    1 star for Yvonne...1 star for the pace...but that is IT...the kids are very annoying...the director shouldn't make the actor & the actress look dumb by doing dumb things...whatta dissapointment & annoying as hell to watch...just want all the characters die already...what a waste of talents and...my time...
  • comment
    • Author: ZloyGenii
    One scary jump out movie! We watch loads of horror films and this has shot to top of our list. Ok bit too much screaming from the kids but what do you expect?? Probably not enough gore for some - if you want slash then this isn't going to cut it (!) but if you want to be shocked and your heart pumping ... this is the movie!
  • Cast overview:
    Yvonne Strahovski Yvonne Strahovski - Laura
    Anna Pniowsky Anna Pniowsky - Kayla
    Abigail Pniowsky Abigail Pniowsky - Maddie
    Ryan McDonald Ryan McDonald - Masked Man
    Justin Bruening Justin Bruening - Shawn
    Julian Bailey Julian Bailey - Owen
    Stephanie Costa Stephanie Costa - Store Clerk
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