Review: Horror drama 'We Need to Do Something' holds our attention before a disappointing finish

In his feature directing debut, Sean King O’Grady makes a lot out of a little in the horror thriller “We Need to Do Something” — though one wishes he and screenwriter Max Booth III would have done a little more with the ending.

The action takes place, mostly, in the large, expensively appointed bathroom in a Midwestern suburban family. Parents Diane (Vinessa Shaw) and Robert (Pat Healy) and their kids, moody pink-haired teen Melissa (Sierra McCormick) and stereotypically nerdy kid brother Bobby (John James Cronin) are holing up here because of predictions of a big storm.

Even in the first minutes, the relationship dynamics are clear. Diane has barely contained contempt for the blustering Robert, who swigs booze not-so-secretly from his Thermos. Bobby clings to his mom and is afraid of his dad. And Melissa is predictably mortified of all of them — and, besides that, too busy trying to get her Goth girlfriend, Amy (Lisette Alexis), to answer her texts.

The storm hits with tornado force, plunging a tree from the backyard into the house’s hallway, blocking the bathroom door and trapping the family inside. Tensions fray even further, as Robert runs out of booze and an errant rattlesnake enters the bathroom.

Then other noises — not thunder, or anything usually associated with weather — start happening outside, and the family starts suspecting something more sinister and otherworldly is attacking.

Melissa, for her part, is also feeling guilty, because she suspects what she and Amy were doing with ancient spells may have been responsible.

O’Grady stirs out maximum tension out of Booth’s tight script, concentrating the action (except for some flashbacks between Melissa and Amy) in that claustrophobic bathroom. At least an hour of the movie happens in that room, and O’Grady and cinematographer Jean-Philippe Bernier seem to never shoot the same angle twice.

Healy and Shaw are electrifying as the squabbling parents, with Healy particularly good as the insecure little man who shouts to make himself appear big. But the star here is McCormick, last seen in the indie gem “The Vast of Night,” again drawing the viewer in with her ability to listen intently and show both fear and resourcefulness.

It nearly all falls apart in the final 10 minutes, with a frenzied resolution to the family drama — followed by a deeply unsatisfying handling of the movie’s external mystery. Considering all the talent displayed up to that point, what was needed in “We Need to Do Something” was an attempt at a rewrite.

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‘We Need to Do Something’

★★★

Opens Friday, September 3, in select theaters. Not rated, but probably R for abundant gore, language and some sexuality. Running time: 97 minutes.