I think Netflix marketing messed this up; the book it's based on is a very melodramatic YA novel about a self-obsessed "misunderstood" 15-year-old girl. The material is a very silly idiot plot. Netflix, by centering Emily Deschanel, has framed this as an adult horror story, and it just isn't. So people are furious at all the teen drama. But, well, it is a teen drama.
The script aligns with that context; people exclusively make stupid decisions. In the book, Mom and Dad's dysfunction was understandable through the lens of their teen girl child. When the adults are the main characters, it doesn't work. Dad refuses to consider an offer on his debt-hole property because his wife suggests the person? Psychiatrist Mom can't possibly at all be qualified, the way she acts.
The book is mediocre teen drama, fairly faithfully adapted. The perspective is off, and the marketing matches.
Not bad viewing for a silly light horror mystery. As a teen series, it's pretty good! Very few scary or gory bits (like, one jump scare? A photograph or two of a cut on the cult girl's back?).
The script aligns with that context; people exclusively make stupid decisions. In the book, Mom and Dad's dysfunction was understandable through the lens of their teen girl child. When the adults are the main characters, it doesn't work. Dad refuses to consider an offer on his debt-hole property because his wife suggests the person? Psychiatrist Mom can't possibly at all be qualified, the way she acts.
The book is mediocre teen drama, fairly faithfully adapted. The perspective is off, and the marketing matches.
Not bad viewing for a silly light horror mystery. As a teen series, it's pretty good! Very few scary or gory bits (like, one jump scare? A photograph or two of a cut on the cult girl's back?).