I love my mom. She is kind, caring, and I know she would do anything for me. Moms are undeniably badasses when it comes to protecting their kids. That’s what makes He’s Out There (2018) a compelling and watch-worthy film. It stands out from other home invasion horror movies because of the raw emotion of Laura (Yvonne Stahovsky), a mother protecting her two young daughters (Abigail and Anna Pniowsky) from a murderous stalker at their remote vacation home.
A Family Trip Turned Nightmare
Laura and her husband Shawn (Justin Bruening) decide to take a family trip to their lake house one summer. Right before they depart, Shawn tells Laura that he has some work to do and that he’ll meet her and the kids at the lake house later that night. When Laura and her daughters arrive, we’re introduced to Owen (Julian Bailey), a creepy neighbor (he, of course, ends up being a source of hope later on) who tells Laura about the family who used to live in their vacation home, and their son John, who disappeared as a kid.
At that moment, I knew John would be the villain of the story. But I didn’t anticipate the incredibly emotional and convincing performance of Yvonne Stahovksy.
Let me be clear—this film does have some problematic tropes. The only thing we know about Laura’s identity is that she’s a mother and a wife. That, in particular, doesn’t sit well with me. That being said, Laura’s role as a mother is powerful. She does everything she possibly can to protect her kids in a situation that grows more hopeless by the minute. She is brave and independent—two characteristics that deviate from the media’s traditional portrayal of motherhood.
Laura’s Transformation: From Mom to Fierce Protector
At first, Laura repeatedly reminds the kids, “Daddy will be here soon, and then we’ll be okay.” However, their hope is wasted on Shawn. When he finally arrives, he stupidly follows an incredibly creepy ribbon leading deep into the woods, and John kills him. John then somehow hauls the body up onto the house’s roof and drops it down in front of Laura after luring her outside with a recording of Shawn’s voice. That’s when Laura realizes she can’t rely on anyone but herself to save her children, and she transforms from badass mom to badass mom who isn’t fucking around!
At one point, Laura tells the girls that they must escape the house and run. She heads over to the door to leave, but John grabs her and pulls her outside, leaving her daughters alone, terrified, and screaming for their mommy. Suddenly, a creepy children’s song began to play from the car speakers. The girls run outside, hoping to find their dad, but instead, they find their mom tied up in the trunk, where John hits her with an ax, and the kids run away screaming.
Heart-Pounding Horror and Emotional Depth
It feels like all hope is lost for these kids. On their way back into the house, they trip over their dad’s dead body. They look back and see their mom lying in the trunk, unmoving. They sprint inside and hide under a bed, but John comes and finds them. He drugs them and drags them to the woods, where he prepares to cut off their limbs and gouge out their eyes in order to replace the wooden ones on the life-sized figures of the family that he keeps in the woods. Yikes!
But Laura isn’t dead. She’s been waiting all night in that trunk to gather enough energy to save her kids. She lures John back to the car, thus ensuring an incredible fight scene between this badass mom and creepy stalker/murderer. They fight over an ax, each getting a few hits in until Laura gains the upper hand and sticks the ax deep into John’s back. She limps into the woods, finds her daughters, and finally drives off.
A Badass Mom’s Triumph
Yes, this is a cheesy home invasion film with eye-roll-worthy jump-scares galore, but it’s also a film about the power of motherhood. It follows Laura’s journey of finding her independence and initiative to save her kids. At first, her hope is centered around her husband as her savior. When he fails, she takes charge and jumps into that protector role, and she’s the one who rescues her daughters and herself.
Even after her husband’s dead body is dropped off the roof in front of her, even after she watches the one neighbor that could potentially help her perish, and even after she’s tied up and stabbed in the stomach with a rusty axe, she doesn’t abandon her determination to save her daughters’ lives. What could be more badass than that?