R BnB was written and directed by Robert Mann. Ryan, played by Ryon Thomas, and Mia, portrayed by Bryanna McQueeney, check into a Bed and Breakfast for their first anniversary. They quickly find themselves in uncomfortable situations leading to dangerous revelations.

The acting is all over the place. On the scale of exaggerated acting, with 10 representing Nicolas Cage at full power, some characters are coasting at a 2. Some characters start at about a 7 and stay there. Some characters are constantly bouncing around between 3 and 9. As a result, I don’t know how serious R BnB wants to be. The story is straightforward, and acting aside, everything is rather pressing. Despite this, I proved incapable of taking things seriously. On a brighter note, everyone has great facial expressions. Agnes Artych gave my favorite performance because if this was supposed to be taking itself seriously, she approached her performance with the ideal amount of restraint. I imagine it also helps that she plays a small role, and her character’s dialogue was rather basic compared to others. The characters and the character relationships are fine. Some of them are legitimately interesting. I did not always enjoy the dialogue. I think at its very best it was only OK.

R BnB is incredibly short. It doesn’t waste its time. I don’t like some of the editing. There are some loud cuts. There was a moment early on when I thought I must have missed a scene. The way it was edited didn’t brace me for what it was about to do. Sometimes it’s like going from a scene in one movie to a scene in a completely different one. There are a few awkward silences I think were unnecessary. It gives some scenes Scooby-Doo energy. Without the characters and the movie pausing to highlight how suspicious someone is things would have been toned down, which would have been more realistic, and the realism could have provided a more effective means of suspense.

The visuals usually look good. They capture the beauty of their environment, but a blue filter is used in an attempt to heighten suspenseful moments. It’s not because it turns night all of a sudden. This doesn’t work. A filter isn’t going to carry suspense, and the acting is actively working against any effort to build suspense. The score always denotes when one ought to be feeling something, but the scenes themselves never allow that to happen. There was a segment of R BnB I found to be fun, but after it was done they immediately burned all the goodwill they had just earned. There is some bare bottom if that interests or offends you. There is one practical effect that stands out. It looks like an Etsy product, but a really cool one. The blood also looks decent.

Very little in R BnB is consistently good. If something is good, another element around it is bad. If something is bad, another element around it is bad. I always try to determine what a movie wants to be so I can approach it from that angle. I can’t do that here. I hope it isn’t trying to take itself seriously, and it is catering to a specific audience who likes a specific brand of movie. Even if that is the case, I am not amongst that audience.

4 out of 10