Horror Movie Review: Lookout (2025)

Directed by Stefan Colson, written by Brandon Cahela, and starring Meghan Carrasquillo, Lookout is a mess of a film. A meaningless mess that begins poorly, and gets worse as it goes on. By the end it devolves into an infuriating experience staggering from one bad set piece to another like a drunk leaving a pub following last orders.

So much of the film’s faults lie with the script, it is as simple as that. A script that tries to blend sci-fi with horror and fails completely. Instead, what we get is a confused and frustrating story that does the bare minimum with characters.

Melissa (Meghan Carrasquillo) is a volunteer forest ranger in the midst of a bitter breakup, so she decides to spend a month at a remote fire watchtower to sort her head out. Not a bad idea, except there’s something strange going on in this neck of the woods. A glowing rock, strange goo, and missing campers, so Melissa becomes determined to find out just what is going on.

It’s not a compelling story, but the film seems to think it is, so spends two-thirds of the film being mysterious. Which is not something I would normally complain about as I like a strong build, time to soak in the atmosphere, and grow characters. Except that is not what Lookout does, and it is downright unforgivable. Melissa begins the film as a blank slate, outside of ex related trauma, and finishes the film as a blank slate.

Tropes, especially the most basic of ones, do not make a character likeable.

It is a baffling way to write a character and does nothing to endear her to the audience. Meghan Carrasquillo isn’t great, but what can she do with writing this shoddy? She’s not alone either as there are several other characters who are written in a such a lifeless way.

Then there is the ‘villain’ of the film. Haphazardly introduced, ramped up quickly to be a serious supernatural threat, but with no ‘oomph’ as their motivations are non-existent. It’s all about these magic rocks that seem to give power, but the how, why, and what of it all is absent. Not that it really matters as the conflict is thoroughly yawn some anyway. I hated the final third of the film, to the extent that I considered switching it off.

Do you know how rare that is? I always finish a film, but Lookout was almost too much for me, but only because it felt like such a waste of time. It looks nice, it feels authentic, the cinematography captures some creative moments, and the early part of the film does intrigue. Alas, it all means nothing because in the end, it’s all a waste of time.

Watching Lookout can be described as ‘edge of the seat’ stuff. However, not in the way we normally mean ‘edge of the seat’. As it meanders on, and it becomes apparent that it isn’t going to deliver anything of worth, many will be on the edge of their seat because they are about to get up and walk away.