The first thing to say is that the first two acts of this movie really struggle to truly find the line between horror and comedy. It tries to find comedy in a normal person reacting to a devil child, but that is pretty much every possession horror ever so there isn't much new ground there, and the attempted comedy often falls flat while also taking away from the potential actual creepiness of the scene. It's easy to rule this out as a failed attempt at recapturing the Tucker and Dale vs. Evil vibe.
But then the third act happens and the movie really comes into its own. The humour and tension are amped up and instead of being a shadow of dozens of horrors and a shadow of dozens of comedy it becomes its own movie and is much better for it. There is even a great message about the difference between nature and nurture and there are some good original ideas that make it much more enjoyable.
Overall it is a shame you have to wait for the third act to get going, especially since they show the catalyst for this momentum shift at the very beginning. You could argue they need the first two acts to set up for the third, but if so then they should have focused more on the comedy since there are way too many evil/possessed child films to care about getting that part right. Still though it's hard not to recommend this movie since the third act is really enjoyable, I just wish they could have gotten there sooner. Maybe just skip to that point.
But then the third act happens and the movie really comes into its own. The humour and tension are amped up and instead of being a shadow of dozens of horrors and a shadow of dozens of comedy it becomes its own movie and is much better for it. There is even a great message about the difference between nature and nurture and there are some good original ideas that make it much more enjoyable.
Overall it is a shame you have to wait for the third act to get going, especially since they show the catalyst for this momentum shift at the very beginning. You could argue they need the first two acts to set up for the third, but if so then they should have focused more on the comedy since there are way too many evil/possessed child films to care about getting that part right. Still though it's hard not to recommend this movie since the third act is really enjoyable, I just wish they could have gotten there sooner. Maybe just skip to that point.