OMG. Ok. I kinda like these teen-oriented “horror” movies that seem like they were made from preteen novels, if they have a couple of fun ideas and creepy enough moments, and am willing to forgive a lot. Case in point would be “Plus 1”, which this movie shares a lot in common with, beginning with the setup, which is “teenage protagonists at a party where reality suddenly changes on them in some unexplainable way and they have to find a way to cope”. This film really pushes the limits of that forgiveness, though. Unlike “Plus 1”, which at least tossed in a passing meteor as an attempt at some kind of macguffin to give some reason for the otherworldly things that occur, this film doesn’t bother… kids go to a party, go into a closet to play “Seven Minutes In Heaven” and emerge in a world where everything is the almost the same, except, sinister and wants to kill them. It has something to do with a tarot deck they found, but no reason for this is ever given. And, for some reason, one character seems to be the same person in all the parallel worlds they visit and understands all that’s happening to them, but that person alternately tries to kill and help them, and no explanation is ever given for why they have that special role, or for their behavior at any point, except as a vehicle to get the kids to wherever the story wants them to go next. Before you know it, people are in two places at once, and dead characters reappear, but know they are dead and still have the wounds (and show off the weapon), again with no explanation whatsoever. So, lots of really major flaws here, I don’t think most people would excuse them. But I do like “rug of reality pulled out from under you” movies and in particular the trope of individual identity being called into question, and the teenage leads are charming enough. Plus, a lengthy and completely irrelevant subplot in which the original party full of kids lock themselves down tighter than london during the war to keep the cops from entering, which inexplicably is threaded throughout the second 2/3 of the movie without being material to the plot in any way except perhaps as a device to spin this story out to feature length, is nonetheless slightly amusing. I actually thought it was kind of fun. You ultimately have to completely suspend your critical abilities to enjoy it, though, because it’s not only full of holes you could drive a truck through, the holes are almost all there is. (There’s a decent review at https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3527173/review-blumhouses-seven-heaven-perfect-young-horror-fan/ from someone else who also seems to have recognized all the flaws — and the intended preteen audience — but nonetheless liked it ok, as I did.)
