With an impressively involving story using multiple methods to scare the viewer, Hold Your Breath is just the ticket for this year’s Halloween season.

Hold Your Breath secludes audiences in the vast and eerie openness of 1930s Oklahoma. Frequent dust storms plague a small community and no one is safe from the dangers they cause. Margaret (Glass’ Sarah Paulson) actively protects her daughters Rose (Amiah Miller) and Ollie (Alona Jane Robbins) while she awaits the return of her husband, who is away on business. Meanwhile, thoughts of an apparition known as The Gray Man spook the young girls, with Rose even claiming to have seen him. While Margaret denies the existence of The Gray Man, a mysterious visiter (Ebon Moss-Bachrach of FX’s The Bear) sends similar shivers down her spine.

Evoking memories of modern classics like Hereditary and The Babadook, but arguably being the better movie, Hold Your Breath is a trippy flick that uses everything from stark visuals to standoffs to make the atmosphere of this psychological horror increasingly dreadful.  As the source of fear slowly transitions into more personal, reflective moments for Margaret, the tone of the movie is maintained well enough for there to still be consistency in the storytelling.  There isn’t a beat in Hold Your Breath that feels like a “bait-n-switch” for the viewer, which shows that its directorial duo Karrie Crouse and William Joines appreciate the audience just as much as they want to freak them out.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie