HOLD YOUR BREATH

HOLD YOUR BREATH is a horror film streaming on Hulu. Set in the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, the story follows Margaret and her two children as they struggle to survive a brutal drought from the dust storms. As if her children’s survival wasn’t enough to worry about, Margaret worries that a malevolent force haunts her family.

HOLD YOUR BREATH is a slow-burn psychological horror that leans more into characters than horror. Its claustrophobic setting allows the performance of the main cast to shine and consistently deliver as they battle the forces of nature and question their sanity. The movie holds a strong biblical worldview, as settlers regularly look to God for hope and guidance amidst unpredictable trials. Characters pray for provision and guidance, attend church regularly, and discuss the hope of reuniting with loved ones after death. One character is said to be miracle worker.

HOLD YOUR BREATH isn’t a traditional horror film but constantly checks in on its characters’ psychological states, which rapidly diminish as the film progresses. Most of the movie is bloodless, but violence and blood become more frequent as it enters its Third Act. A couple of brief gory images may disturb viewers who are sensitive to these images. MOVIEGUIDE advises caution for adult viewers.

The movie begins in agrarian Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. Amidst the dry climate, we meet Margarette and her two daughters, Ollie and Rose. Margaret does her best to make ends meet, ensuring her lone cow has enough to eat so the family can survive while her husband is away at work. She prays over every meal and thanks God for his provision each day. The character takes pills to enable her to fall asleep, still tormented by the loss of her third daughter, Ada. Upon waking each morning, she must scrub the house clean of excess dirt.

Her daughters spend nearly every waking moment together. One night, her eldest daughter, Rose, reads a scary story about the Grey Man to Ollie, her mute younger sister. She tells of how the Grey Man once trapped six victims in a house, intent on burning them alive, but accidentally caught himself on fire. Since then, his ashes have floated on the wind, making their way into dwellers’ homes, possessing them and forcing them to do terrible things.

At her church sewing club, Margaret learns news of a drifter who killed a mother and child, forcing the husband to watch. Meanwhile, dust storms continue to blow with severity. Margaret visits her cousin Esther, whose son is sick with pneumonia. Not long after, Esther leaves town amid the storm with her two boys. Rescuers find them soon after, her eldest son having died in the wreck.

The town is stunned by the sudden tragedy. Ollie claims to have seen a man in the storms outside their house. Strange occurrences begin to happen as, one by one, they each come to believe someone is outside of their home. Margaret becomes obsessed with sealing up every draft to prevent the Grey Man from entering. One day, the cow somehow escapes the barn. While initially furious at Rose, Margaret realizes someone is in the barn.

She later discovers Wallace, a man hiding in the barn attic, wearing her husband’s jacket. He tells her that a minister and a friend of her husband’s know all of their names. They nearly force him to get out before Rose has a nosebleed and falls ill. Wallace offers to heal her and is finally accepted. Upon laying hands on Rose, her nose bleed ends, as do her bouts of sickness. Wallace offers to take care of the cow and provide sustenance for its survival in exchange for a place to stay.

The next day, they awaken to open skies. Much-needed rain is finally falling like a gift from heaven. Margaret discovers Wallace with his hands to the sky as if he were the one to call it down. Time passes, and a letter arrives from Margaret’s husband. In it, he informs her that someone posing as a preacher has stolen his jacket, a letter, and the money he intended to send them. Wallace takes Ollie hostage but is forced to leave by Margaret at gunpoint, but not before burning the letter with proof of his existence. With his exit, he alludes to himself as the Grey Man and promises to return, and twine and ropes won’t be enough to keep him out of the house.

Margaret is paranoid following his threat. Fearing the loss of another child, she stops taking her sleeping pills and stays up each night watching for Wallace outside, armed with her shotgun. She notices an uptick in strange occurrences around the house, moved items, locked doors, and even an abrupt fire outbreak.

The family checks on Esther and finds that she has fallen into a malaise, not taking care of her children, claiming a “man” has been watching over them. The Sheriff takes her children while Esther warns about Margaret ending up like her. However, days later, Esther returns to their house, apologizing and saying she’s concerned about Margaret as she hasn’t attended church functions lately. Esther invites her to participate in the dance that night. Recalling a time when she first lost Ada and began having destructive psychotic episodes, she decides it is better to go to the dance to maintain appearance and subvert suspicion.

She cuts her thigh; sprinkles blood onto her lifeless cheeks and brings the family to the dance. She can hardly convince anyone as she has an episode in the church in front of everyone, thinking Wallace has come to the event. Embarrassed, she leaves.

That night, a storm brews over the house. Margaret refuses to sleep yet again, constantly watching for Wallace’s return. Rose begins to worry over her obsession with him, admitting that she lent Wallace the book on the Grey Man and likely used that to strike fear. During one of her sleepwalking episodes, Margaret shoots a phantom of Wallace that disappears into thin air. Later, she nearly shoots Rose, thinking she’s also Wallace. Rose looks over to see the lifeless corpse of Esther, shot dead in their yard. Rose says that Wallace isn’t haunting the family, her mother is.

Rose attempts to run away with Ollie, but Margaret subdues them. They are interrupted by a knock on the door. The Sheriff came looking for Esther, knowing she was coming by to check on Margaret. Rose tells the Sheriff she is unfit to be their mother, and he threatens to take them away. Margaret, brandishing a hidden knife, stabs the Sheriff to death.

Knowing these acts will get her the death sentence, she decides all of them should die together so she can be with her children forever. She pours her sleeping medicine into bowls of peaches, intent for them all to eat them. But Rose tricks her into running after Ollie in the storm, only to cut the cord leading her back to the house and allowing her to die as the storm sucks the air from her.

The movie ends with a shot of Rose and Ollie aboard a train to visit their father. As the train moves across the countryside, they leave the barren wasteland behind and see vast lands of green grass across the horizon, singling a hopeful future.