Hulu’s Psychological Horror Tackles A Descent Into Paranoia And Madness

By Robert Scucci
| Published 28 seconds ago

I told myself a long time ago that I would stop looking for psychological horror movies that rely on the “unreliable protagonist” trope. Unfortunately, I didn’t read my own memo while watching last year Hold Your Breath on Hulu. I can’t say I’m crazy myself, but I’m disappointed that I was expecting something different because this movie is a period piece set in Oklahoma in the 1930s after the Dust Bowl took hold of former farmland once prosperous. weathered by the elements.

But make no mistake about the refreshing setting, as all the trappings of a trope can be found within Hold Your Breath:

Centering on a grieving mother named Margaret Bellum (Sarah Paulson), Hold Your Breath is a by-the-numbers exercise in exploring the paranoia and grief of our protagonists as she tries to fight against dark forces intent on claiming the lives of her children while her husband, Henry (Bill Heck), works on a construction project in Philadelphia.

Familiar Building

Hold Your Breath wastes no time introducing a source of evil that will only make you question the authenticity of Margaret’s experiences. But if you’re well versed in psychological horror, you’ll be sitting with your Bingo card of tropes as you check all the boxes that make this film another generic, quasi-supernatural experience.

In a house covered from floor to ceiling with thick layers of dust, Margaret brings up her two daughters, Rose (Amiah Miller) and Ollie (Alona Jane Robbins). Grieving the death of her youngest daughter, Ada, Margaret takes a prescription sleep medication to stop her from having sleepwalking episodes after having a psychotic break before the events that take place in Hold Your Breath. At first Margaret seems to have her mental health under control, but everything changes after Rose reads Ollie a horror story about ghouls hiding in dust clouds called “The Gray Man”.

The Gray Man

Knowing that “The Gray Man” is a work of fiction, Margaret brushes off the initial scare in Hold Your Breath as a figment of her daughter’s overactive imagination after reading the horror story. Margaret’s imagination gets the best of her, however, after hearing about a drifter who murdered her neighbors under circumstances that mirror the events depicted in “The Gray Man.”

Shortly after learning of the horrific crime, Margaret finds a drifter hiding in her barn who reveals herself to be a preacher named Wallace (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).

Margaret becomes suspicious of Wallace when the circumstances of his arrival add up to nothing. Wallace assures Margaret that her husband, Henry, has been sent to check on his family as he passes through Oklahoma territory. Wallace, who has supernatural healing powers, threatens the Bellum family when his intentions are questioned, which puts Margaret on heightened alert for any suspicious behavior.

Margaret stops taking her medication so she can be more alert, seals up the house, and lives in hiding with her daughters as she tries to keep the evil spirit that now grips her family to away As she becomes more magical with each passing day, Wallace’s presence becomes an evil force Hold Your Breath that comes and goes as quickly as the dust storms that have destroyed the crops in previous years. As Margaret becomes increasingly paranoid, the line between fact and fiction becomes equally blurred when she begins to experience new episodes of sleepwalking.

A Solid Entry Point, But Not For Connoisseurs

Hold Your Breath is one of those movies you’ll want to show your psychologically interested friends thrillersbut they have yet to be surprised by watching similar premises play out in other films occupying the subgenre. Boasting supernatural elements that seem to validate our protagonist’s memory of events, Hold Your Breath has many tense moments and jump cuts that will keep casual viewers on the edge of their seats.

However, the more seasoned psychological thriller fans will find themselves yawning once things start to heat up because I guarantee they’ve seen this familiar story involving a main character unreliable plays out dozens of times before but in different locations.

Hold Your Breath is a Hulu original movie, and you can stream it with an active subscription.