Sorry, Charlie is one of the best horror movies I’ve watched in 2023. Billed as a Tubi Original and inspired by true events, the low-budget film is a well-executed no-filler thriller with a killer finale.
From the opening 911 call by a woman who hears a baby crying outside her home to the surprising revelations that comprise the climax, Sorry, Charlie maximizes the tension while developing a strong connection to its main character, a woman named Charlie. Director Colton Tran flexes his creative muscle with Luke Genton’s screenplay and generates an atmosphere of palpable dread with one character in one house for the length of the perfectly paced 75-minute film.
After a 911 call starts the movie on a genuinely creepy note, the movie flashes a few words on the screen to establish why a woman would approach the sound of a crying baby outside at night.
“Studies show that hearing an infant cry evokes feelings of sympathy and caregiving in women. It elicits an instinctive response, even in individuals with no parenting experience. According to scientists, hearing a baby cry activates regions in the brain directly affecting the nervous system, preparing a woman’s body to take action.”
I don’t know if that’s true, but the film made me believe it.
Before the movie flashes its title, the final (and only) girl Charlie hears a crying baby outside her home at night and investigates. At the pivotal moment when she discovers it’s a cellphone recording, a man wearing a top hat appears from behind and attacks her. The attacker is a serial rapist dubbed The Gentleman by the media. The belief by some is that he rapes women, hoping to conceive a child of his own while one day returning for the newborn.
Flash forward nine months and we find Charlie with a bulging belly and living an isolated lifestyle as a remote helpline volunteer. Charlie is played by actress Kathleen Kenny, who literally carries the film with her subtly powerful performance. Kenny portrays her character with grit and compassion, refusing to succumb to victimhood while sincerely assisting others in a bind via the helpline.
Charlie’s isolation is self-imposed. She avoids her parents and only interacts with her therapist and helpline callers. We learn authorities arrested the serial rapist known as The Gentleman, but Charlie believes they convicted the wrong man because his voice is not the same as the one who raped her. She thinks The Gentleman is out there … waiting.
The beauty of this film is how it shows Charlie coping with her paranoid existence using small, everyday details. For example, the director creates impressive amounts of tension from a closet slowly opening, a knock at the door, a face in the window, a creepy call, a baby monitor, a record playing, and the delivery of anonymous packages.
Charlie’s paranoia seems justifiable, but could it be her imagination playing tricks on her? The finale answers that question and throws in a couple of twists that shocked me. Thanks to a flawless performance by Kenny plus Tran’s ability to draw maximum suspense from common horror tropes, I’d highly recommend giving the movie a look-see.
You won’t be sorry.
MORE HORROR MOVIE REVIEWS
Horror Movie Review: HALLOWEEN (2018)
Horror Movie Review: THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT
Horror Movie Review: DESOLATION
LIONEL RAY GREEN 
Who sings this song at the end of the credits Mockingbird or Hush ?
Faze ?
How does one get this song?It’s not on youtube ?
I checked but could only find it at the end of the actual movie. It is titled Hush by Faze, but like you, I could not find it anywhere else.
Late reply but here’s the song: https://www.loc.gov/item/lomaxbib000626 – it’s from the Library of Congress.
Late reply but here’s the song – https://www.loc.gov/item/lomaxbib000626 from the Library of Congress (it’s a 1939 recording).