Leave the World Behind (2023)

Deer that won’t stop staring, flamingos floating in a swimming pool, an oil tanker plowing onto a crowded beach: Leave the World Behind has a pile of creepy images and no idea how to string them together. Sam Esmail shoots the rental house like the camera is a nosy ghost, sliding through walls and hovering over dinner. Julia Roberts plays Amanda as a woman who openly dislikes people, which makes her fun to watch and hard to root for. Mahershala Ali is the calm center as G.H., the polite stranger at the door, and his late-night scene with Roberts is the best thing here. Ethan Hawke’s Clay is a useless dad in the most relatable way. Kevin Bacon shows up as a prepper with opinions. At 138 minutes, the dread starts circling instead of building. It holds a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes. A 5.9 because the mood is legit unsettling and the story never commits. $421.76 says you spot a deer at the edge of the road this month and very carefully refuse to make eye contact.

What works: The roaming camera, the eerie animal moments and Mahershala Ali’s quiet authority keep the dread humming.

What doesn’t: At 138 minutes it circles the same unanswered questions for too long, and Amanda is hard to spend that much time with.

Who it’s for: People who like slow-burn end-of-the-world stories that care more about mood than answers.