PLOT: When Ella travels with her kids to her hometown to attend her sister's wedding, she soon finds herself fighting off vicious old people.
More often than not, we get to hear and read news articles about how the elderly are miserably treated. How they are abandoned. How they wait in old age homes for their family to come for a visit, only to be disappointed.
They are weak and pretty much counting the days until they die. That's the fundamental belief anyway.
But what if they weren't as weak as everyone thought? What if they were tired of being treated like second-class citizens and possessed the strength to fight for their rights? Why should their contribution be so easily forgotten?
Old People has a neat little message tied up with intense terrifying scenes.
You never know who is going to survive. Or if anyone will. It is pretty touch and go for some characters in certain instances.
OLD PEOPLE Plot
The movie begins with a card that explains the legend.
Supposedly, in times of yore, dark sprits took hold of old people. They often picked the weakest members in the clan.
Why? Is it resentment or abandonment that attracts these spirits? We will know for sure only later.
A nurse enters a house that is dark. She doesn’t turn on the lights but does keep calling for her patient. She finally finds him and realizes he is in his underwear and looking rather grouchy.
In the next instant he is bashing her with an oxygen cylinder. Clearly he has no use for it anymore considering he doesn’t even gasp when he practically bashes the nurse's face in.
We then see Ella drive down a long road with her kids Laura and Noah in the backseat. They sing happy family songs but also remark how Ella left their father Lukas.
Ella makes a face but doesn't say anything back. She's heading home after a long time. It is her sister Sanna's wedding. The kids are also excited to see their grandfather. Ella grows quiet again. Yeah, there's some tension in that relationship too.
They finally arrive and Sanna is ecstatic to meet her sister and her niece and nephew. Ella goes inside the house and sees a family photo of her and Lukas, and the kids. It is still sitting there even after the divorce and even after Lukas moved on with a woman called Kim.
Ella wants to meet her father but Sanna tells her that after his health declined, he moved to a retirement home called Saalheim.
Ella is surprised she didn't know that. Her sister mentions Kim and that she works at the same retirement home.
Meanwhile Lukas is working when Kim informs him that she must urgently leave for work as the retirement home is understaffed.
Lukas lets her go and promises to find a white shirt for the wedding. Kim insinuates she finds white shirts extremely hot.
Ella and Sanna are off to pick up their father but Laura makes excuses. She's a teen so of course there's a cute guy in the picture. Alex comes to see her on his bike and she is instantly impressed. She is ready to ditch meeting her grandfather just so she can hang out with her crush.
On the way to the retirement home, Ella stops the car to see Lukas on the side going for shopping. They stare at each other a little too much and it is implied that Ella is the one who dumped Lukas.
At the retirement home, the scene is depressing. There are too many old people watching Ella and the kids desperately, wondering if they have come to see them.
They separate and it is Noah who finds his grandfather. There's one older man who is getting to eat cake that he regurgitates for some reason. It's supposed to be threatening.
No one else is getting cake. He gets it and uses it to scare a boy. What a waste of cake.
Ella finds Noah and her father. She caresses her father's cheek and makes amends. Her father doesn’t speak much but does cry.
Laura is having the time of her life with Alex. They go boating and Laura drives it fast. Luckily the boat doesn't overturn and there are no sharks, or else it would have been a different kind of horror movie.
They come to a place in the woods where there is a monument. Time to pay attention now. The monument is supposed to signify family unity. It is a reminder that families must stay together and not abandon anyone or else there will be chaos.
More foreshadowing.
Lukas is ready to go to the wedding and Kim lets him know she isn't jealous even after meeting Ella.
Sanna and Malick get married. Everyone is having fun. Lukas and Ella talk which is interrupted by their kids who inform them that their favorite family song is playing. The four dabxe together and Kim looks on. Ella notices the daggers in Kim's eyes and stops. Lukas quickly goes to pacify Kim who pretends she is so cool with him ignoring her and dancing with his kids and ex wife.
Meanwhile, right across from the wedding venue, is the retirement home where all the seniors have gathered to peer out longingly. One of the orderlies tries to be a wise guy and taunts the elderly about never being able to dress up now. And they can forget about ever attending jolly parties.
He closes the window so that they cannot even enjoy the music. Now that is asking for it.
Another orderly goes looking for a missing senior and finds her chomping electrical cables. She tries to stop her but the woman manages to cut through such a thick cable. Great dentures. Or if she has all her teeth, they are pretty strong.
The lights go off. That's the signal. The old people pounce on the orderly who thought he was good at makinh wise cracks. The other one tries to call for help but the elderly have a great weapon: oxygen cylinders.
After the orderlies are murdered, the only senior who got cake becomes their leader and decides to take this murdering show on the road.
Sanna and Malick are being all romantic in their new home which is by the way connected to the other house via a tunnel. A fact that Noah casually throws in when he enters the house. Of course the tunnels will be used later or why even mention it.
Sanna and Malick are having an intimate moment when they are killed.
Lukas and Kim notice the old people going on a killing spree and wonder what is going on.
Ella wakes up to hear noises and leaves Laura in charge while she goes out to investigate. She reaches her sister's house only to find her body along with her new husband's.
Before she can do anything, the old people begin to pursue her. She notices an old woman wearing her sister's wedding dress. It fits her perfectly.
Ella runs back home only to find Laura wasn't the best candidate to keep an eye on people. Noah and the grandfather are missing. Based on what is happening outside, they assume the worst about their poor grandfather.
Anyway, Lukas also turns up and leaves Kim in charge of Laura.
Together with Ella, he goes in search of Noah but has no luck.
When the house is attacked, Kim points the aged horde towards Laura. Attack her instead. She's younger and therefore cares even less about the elderly.
Lukas and Ella managed to save Laura and capture the leader. Lukas throws Kim a "I hate you" look but doesn’t say anything.
They then tie up the leader and interrogate him.
Ella doesn’t want to play it cool and points a gun at him. She wants to know where her son is. The leader asks her if she sees a man or a beast and that he rather die considering the fate he has endured so far.
He is pretty much pointing to the deplorable circumstances in the retirement home where sometimes the old people have to lie in their own filth because there aren't enough people to take care of them. Or there are but they treat the elderly poorly.
Ella isn't ready to dole out sympathy until her son is found.
Fortunately, Noah comes out at that time stating that his grandfather had told him to hide in the attic when all this went down.
The family reunites but Kim is mad as ever.
She manages to find Ella alone and knocks her out before dragging her outside. Ella comes to her senses and finds her father standing by the trees, finger on lips. A horde of old people rush over to her.
When Lukas asks about Ella's whereabouts, she keeps mum but Lukas hears the chaos outside. He still keeps his anger in check as he opens the door to drag Ella inside. Laura helps too while Noah stands back and sobs.
Kim witnesses all of this and sees Lukas being repeatedly stabbed in the thigh. There goes his femoral artery.
She sees Laura try to help her parents and realizes that the love of this family is too strong. Lukas may be with her but his priority would always be his kids and Ella.
Of course she screwed up her relationship after she used Laura as bait and threw Ella outside the house. She was headed for a break up.
Kim goes upstairs and then lets herself fall from the window.
The horde is immediately interested in Kim who they probably recognize from their retirement home. Ella is let go.
Kim's head is pulled up and her neck slit.
Lukas closes the door and Ella helps him on a sofa. But he's bleeding profusely. Kim's sacrifice came a little too late.
Lukas dies.
As the door starts to break down, Noah reminds everyone about the tunnels he mentioned earlier in the movie. Luckily they are in the very room that has the tunnel entrance.
Off they go one by one.
Ella is obviously pulled back by the rampant old people. Laura tries to save her mother who manages to say she loves her before she is dragged away.
Laura helps Noah out of the tunnel. The poor boy gets an asthma attack and unfortunately Laura doesn't have his inhaler with her.
However, he manages to recover and so does Laura's phone. She finds several messages about the attacks and almost twenty missed calls from Alex. She calls him and he moans about being attacked as well although he did manage to get to his boat. Laura is invited to go with him.
Before Laura and Noah can leave, the leader from before, comes over to do some killing. Laura gets ready to die. She tells Noah to look away and she closes her eyes. Even with a knife to her throat, she sings the family song. Noah joins in.
The leader waits. He either likes the song or can't believe that someone would sing at a time like this. He's commending her bravery or enjoying the song, when the kids' grandfather comes over to shoot the leader.
Laura, Noah, and grandpa all rush towards the beach. They see Alex who seems hesitant when he sees the grandpa. Laura's voiceover is going on and she talks about trust. Alex pulls up grandpa. They all escape while the old people gather on the beach and watch them.
Who will take care of them now? They did kill all the orderlies. Is anyone left on the island?
Laura talks about how this could be a global pandemic. There are a lot of families around the world who abandon their elders after all. Who knows when the dark force will jump into one of them and cause all these problems.
The movie ends.
SCARE SCALE: 3/5
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