Yes, this film is about ghosts and the supernatural crap that pops up after an unlicensed hypnosis session. But really it’s about bad parents. Or parents who thought they were doing the right thing, but absolutely should be in prison.

This film is so 90s, I give it 4 out of 5 inappropriate crop tops. Kevin Bacon can never play someone not intense, and this film lets him go all in. His character, Tom, and wife Maggie live in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago with their 5 year old son Jake.

The movie opens with Jake humming to himself and talking to walls, so obviously we are in for some wild child haunting drama. I’ll be okay as long as it is more Casper, and less Babadook. It’s kind of in the middle. It involved a basement, but the ghost is friendly enough (by Chicago standards).

Anyways, back to terrible parents. You find out Maggie is pregnant right away when her “witch” sister blurts it out. So to celebrate apparently, the three of them go to a party across the street and leave the 5 year old home alone. With only a baby monitor as a baby sitter.

I don’t care how far we have come in technology. I know we can talk to Mars in like 30 minutes, but we as the human race have not made any progress in making baby monitors less disturbing. Watching anyone sleep is creepy, but the breathing, delayed sounds, and spotty night vision is no way for us to monitor our children. I’d rather the baby sitter sit outside the door and occasionally check in with the night goggles those Navy SEALS get.

Either way, Tom and his wife are awful for leaving their kid home alone. And it wasn’t like they were just grabbing a cold one at the party and heading home. They stayed so long that EVERYONE else had left except for the hosts, a couple from down the street, and Maggie’s sister. This is a Chicago house party. That’s 5 hours, minimum.

Since everyone is drunk (I would hope except for Maggie, but they haven’t made any great choices so far), the sister in law (Lisa) convinces Tom to let her hypnotize him. He insists is BS and even though she is not fully licensed, he lets her do it anyways. A lot of weird stuff happens and Tom snaps back to reality with a huge thirst. Party is over. Better go not check on your kid who has been alone with his humming and chatty invisible friends for 5 hours.

We already know the kid has the “gift.” So add in a recently open-minded dad, along with a pregnant mom and you are going to have a mess to clean up. Literally. Tom starts to see disturbing things and even though his son creepily assures him it’s nothing to be afraid of (which would make me 1000x more scared), he starts to spiral.

He has insomnia, never ending headaches, extreme thirst, and hypersensitivity to lights and sounds. Which sounds like meningitis. Is this what people used to think meningitis was: demonic possession? Modern health care has probably debunked a lot of diseases doctors were just too lazy to research. Uhh yeah, epilepsy? That’s just the devil in your soul. Better let all your blood out. Oh you’re dead now? Ah well, must of been the devil. Pay me in money or chickens.

The story changes from jump scares to mystery, as Tom takes it upon himself to solve the murder of the ghost teenager who is currently squatting in his house. But only after they hire a baby-sitter who tries to kidnap/save his kid. Turns out, she is the sister of the ghost teenager and believes Tom and Maggie killed her. References, people. They existed in the 90s. Tom and Maggie have a damn fax machine in their kitchen; they can certainly call 2-3 people to make sure their new baby-sitter isn’t unhinged. Maybe the far-range baby monitor WAS the better choice.

The neighborhood doesn’t seem to keen to help him in his search for answers, which should have been a tip. So Tom decides for focus his destruction inward. Literally. He starts to tear apart his yard and house, trying to find a body. This should be a warning that doing home improvement projects while under the influence of a ghost, although productive, are not recommended.

Tom finds out the truth (TW: rape scene) and it involves even more terrible parents in the neighborhood. There’s not really any justice brought to the initial perpetrators, or any indication that Tom is still “open” or “closed” to more ghost chats. Instead they move across town, completely oblivious to the fact that their kid is still VERY psychic and receiving copious amounts of messages from beyond. And they are about to bring another kid into this family. These parents are so shitty, I put them on the same level as “Mommy YouTubers.” Actually those people are scarier. Someone make a film about them.