I See You-- My take on the movie with spoilers!

Plot Summary: When a boy disappears, a police detective and his family go through some strange occurrences in their home. 

I’ll never understand why horror movies are based on families with large houses. The perplexing issue here is not that story writers find potential in throwing a scary scene here or there, but the fact that these families own houses so big they have no idea what is going on inside.

Okay, before I get on with what could be hiding in your house, who cleans these houses? You never see a single maid around. The parents are working, the teens show no interest or inclination toward cleanliness.

Still, we never see a dust bunny in the house, no stains on the sink. No hair on the tiles, not even a footprint. A little water on the kitchen floor, you step on it, and it leaves tracks everywhere. And what about the grease accumulation in the kitchen?

No matter how careful you are, unless you don’t spend a few minutes at least every day to clean, the house will look a mess.

Yet, in movies, the carpets look like they are just vacuumed, the windows don’t have a smear, the tiles are spotless.

And the family rarely does the laundry but have clean, ironed clothes to put in.

Now, why am I making an issue with cleanliness? Well, if you clean your house, you will get to every corner to clear the dirt and dust. And if there is someone hiding in your house, you will definitely find them crouching in a corner. And definitely find evidence that they have been squatting.

I See You is, in spite of my scepticism on house cleaning, a nail-biting thriller. There is never a dull moment and the second half is truly what makes this movie amazing. Yes, after a long time, I enjoyed a movie that had all the right ingredients to make this entertaining. The twists are great and fit in, the characters are realistic especially when motives are revealed.

What was a tad put-off was the background music. For the first time, there was a movie that didn’t need musical assistance to depict the tone of a scene.

I SEE YOU Movie Plot 

The movie begins with a kid on a bicycle, riding through the woods. Why the woods? No idea. The one thing every town should make sure of is not to make kids have to go home through the woods. Cut a road outside, or have tons of security in there.

Anyway, the kid is seen flying back. He probably hit a trap.

The next scene introduces us to an estranged family but living together.

The mother, Jackie, is cooking up a special breakfast for her son Connor. He immediately declines and refuses to speak to her. It is hinted that the mother cheats on her husband Greg.

Jackie is a psychologist, Greg is a police detective. Connor is a moody teen.

Greg is immediately put on the case of the missing kid. Meanwhile, Jackie keeps hearing noises in the house and suspects Connor is angry enough with her to hide her favorite mug.

Days pass, and the kid is still not found, though the MO resembles that of a paedophile who is currently behind bars.

At home, Jackie finds her cutlery is missing after a window repairman leaves. Before he does, he mentions what a well-trained daughter she has. He doesn’t say polite or sweet or well-mannered. He says trained.

Jackie is mystified and calls out to him but the repairman is on his way without elaborating. Jackie doesn’t chase him outside either. She stays at the door, perhaps shocked to see a repairman in her house that she hadn’t invited.

Why is he repairing a window? Because Greg is pissed off at his wife and takes it out on the window.

More weird things happen at the house and at one point, Greg is locked in Connor’s closet. He is saved by Jackie but now he too is convinced that Connor is being insolent.

Late night, Jackie goes into Connor’s room and sees he’s still up and playing video games. She checks under his bed and sort of sees a black frog mask. Thinking her son has weird taste in shopping she leaves. She doesn’t ask him what it is because she’s probably still wary of how he will react now that he blames her for ruining the family.

If she just had pressed on, a shocking truth would have been revealed.

But the time for that hasn’t come. Instead, Jackie’s lover comes home to express his desire for her. A mug drops on his head. Jackie’s mug.

Jackie hides her boyfriend in the basement while making it clear she doesn’t want to continue her affair.

She takes Connor to school and while the boyfriend is rifling through stuff, he’s hit on the head with a baseball bat.

Jackie returns and is horrified to find her lover is dead. She enlists her husband’s help who is disgusted but believing that it is Connor who is behind this, helps his wife bury the body in the woods so Connor won’t be arrested.

At home, Connor receives a message online asking him if he knew what Phrogging is. He doesn’t and sees a video of a man in a black frog mask stealing silverware...in his home.

Connor freaks out but before anything could happen the man in the frog mask appears behind him.

Jackie and Greg return after burying her lover. She goes upstairs and is horrified to find her son tied up and potentially drugged in the bathroom.

Greg tells her to take him to the hospital while he stays back to find out what is going on. He goes around the house and we see the black frog masked man behind him.

Before anything could happen, the screen darkens to signal Act 2.

Now we find out what really has been going on at home.

We meet a girl called Mindy who along with her friend Alec are phrogging, which pretty much means they are squatters and are using a fancy slang name to describe jumping from one pad to another.

This is basically their part of the story starting with before the kid is kidnapped.

Mindy and Alec are hiding in the guest room and when it is in use they hide in closets or basements or attic.

All Mindy wants is a place to sleep in because she’s either run away from home or is homeless. Her backstory is barely revealed. She wants to coexist with the family, use their things without them knowing and at night scramble back into their hiding spaces.

But Alec seems to be getting bored of just coexisting. He wants to have fun, make the family feel like they’re going crazy. Mindy disapproves so Alec drugs her with Greg’s medication and roams around the house at night.

At one point we see him peeing over Greg so he wakes up to find himself in a puddle of pee and thinks it is him.

Alec then proceeds to take away all the silverware and puts them in the dryer. He’s the one who locks Greg in Connor’s closet.

I SEE YOU Ending Explained with Spoilers! 

When Mindy awakens, she finds Alec sitting on the roof with Jackie’s mug. When Mindy scolds him, he drops the mug on Jackie’s lover.

Mindy and Alec decide to leave when they find the man is injured. Mindy goes to the basement but has to hide as Jackie has hidden her boyfriend in the basement.

She’s about to leave her spot but sees someone hitting the man on the head.

Is it Alec? Nope.

It’s Greg.

Mindy is horrified and absolutely heartbroken when Greg is fine with Jackie believing that Connor is behind the murder.

She is scared beyond words and you feel really bad for the poor girl who is caught in this situation.

While Greg has gone with Jackie to bury her lover, Mindy creeps upstairs to find Alec has attacked Connor and is tying him up. She freaks out and threatens to call the police but Alec pushes her and she falls off the stairs and is knocked out.

Alec carries her to the other car in the garage. He is about to open the door when Greg comes back. He hides and gets out of the car.

While Jackie finds Connor and takes him to the hospital, Greg is off on a mission of his own.

Alec gets nervous, realizing that Mindy is still unconscious in the back of the car.

Just as he predicted, Mindy wakes up. She’s probably used to waking up in strange places because she doesn’t freak out. She finds Greg’s duffel bag and inside, the bat which he had used to kill Jackie’s lover...and... a green jersey and green knife.

All of this belongs to the child abductor of the town.

Greg stops in the woods and Mindy creeps out and immediately calls the police but her network is hindered and she can barely say more. She finds a trailer and inside, the missing boys.

She is about to help them but is caught by Greg and suffocated.

When he throws her in the car, he finds her camera and realizes she’s been hiding at his home. His wicked mind forms a plan.

He takes her to the house, makes her stand when she awakens, then shoots her.

Alec gets pissed off and rushes over to attack him. After a struggle, Alec manages to take the gun and before Greg can explain, shoots him dead.

The other detective appears and shoots at Alec who recognizes the detective.

And then it is all revealed.

Alec was one of the boys who was held by the paedophile when he was a kid. He had recognized Greg. He was probably out for revenge and used Mindy to get into his house.

Alec wasn’t as deranged as Mindy he thought. He was purposely harassing Greg because of what Alec had endured as a kid.

Jackie and Connor return and Jackie is horrified to discover her husband’s twisted secret. Perhaps, in a way, she had known which is why she had distanced herself from him and had an affair.

Alec has survived the gunshot wound and is glad he was able to get Greg’s truth out to the world.

I See You could very well apply to either Mindy or Alec keeping a watchful eye on Greg and his family.

Or the title could be referring to Alec seeing Greg for who he really was even though everyone thought he was a nice, helpful cop.

Superb storytelling and interesting characterizations make this movie a must-watch.

Scare scale: 4.5/5