Our Happy Place Review: A Compelling Example of Pandemic-era Filmmaking!

Our Happy Place is a psychological horror film written and directed by Paul Bickel, born directly out of pandemic isolation and creative necessity. Set during the COVID-19 lockdown in the remote Big Bear mountains, the film leans heavily into mood, atmosphere, and psychological unease rather than conventional horror mechanics. With a minimal cast, limited locations, and an intentionally claustrophobic design, Our Happy Place positions itself as an inward-looking horror story, one that treats the mind as its most dangerous terrain.

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The story follows Raya, played by Raya Miles, an isolated woman caring for her husband Paul, who is bedridden with a mysterious illness. Each morning, Raya wakes up disoriented in the surrounding forest, repeatedly falling into freshly dug graves with no memory of how she arrived there. As these episodes intensify, she begins to experience disturbing visions of suffering women, and the boundary between nightmare and waking life starts to dissolve. The forest, once a place of quiet escape, becomes an extension of her fractured psyche. As Raya struggles to maintain sanity while bearing the weight of caregiving, long-buried secrets begin to surface, forcing her to confront the truth.

One of the film’s strengths is it’s performances, particularly from Raya Miles. She carries an enormous emotional burden throughout the film, and her performance reflects that weight with conviction. Raya has to juggle fear, anxiety, confusion, grief, and exhaustion, often within the same scene, and she does so without overplaying any of it. The repeated cycle of waking up in unfamiliar outdoor spaces, paired with the emotional strain of caring for a confined spouse, gives her character a constant sense of unease, and Miles communicates that internal collapse with striking control.

Paul Bickel, who also plays Paul, has a crucial role despite his physical limitations within the story. His performance relies less on movement and more on tone, presence, and implication, and he delivers a portrayal that adds emotional complexity and ambiguity to the relationship at the film’s core.

Technically, Our Happy Place is genuinely impressive given the circumstances under which it was made. Knowing that much of the film was created by essentially a two-person crew makes the craftsmanship stand out even more. The cinematography makes effective use of shallow depth of field, natural light, and disorienting framing to reflect Raya’s psychological state. The production design, particularly the contrast between the cramped, outdated interiors and the vast, oppressive forest, reinforces the film’s themes of confinement versus exposure.

Practical effects are blended with restrained digital augmentation, and the SFX and VFX work is integrated with surprising discipline, never overwhelming the story but enhancing its nightmarish quality. The post-production work plays a vital role as well. The score by David Hernandez subtly heightens tension without resorting to obvious horror cues, while editor Jim Holdridge shapes the film’s rhythm to sustain dread, using repetition, ellipses, and abrupt transitions to mirror Raya’s fractured perception of time and memory.

That said, the film is not without its shortcomings. The narrative takes a considerable amount of time to fully unravel, and while the first act is genuinely intriguing, the second act begins to feel repetitive. Certain sequences revisit the same psychological beats without adding new layers of information or escalation. The reliance on abstraction and withheld exposition, while thematically appropriate, occasionally results in scenes that feel underdeveloped or narratively stagnant. However, once the third act arrives and the pieces begin to align, the film regains its footing. The revelations land with clarity and purpose, retroactively justifying much of the earlier ambiguity and bringing emotional and thematic closure.

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Overall, Our Happy Place stands as a compelling example of covid-era filmmaking done with intention and craft. Anchored by strong performances, especially from Raya Miles, and elevated by thoughtful technical execution, the film succeeds more as a psychological experience than a traditional horror narrative. While its pacing falters in the middle, the film ultimately delivers a resonant and unsettling conclusion. It is a reminder that horror does not always need monsters or spectacle—sometimes, the most terrifying space is the one inside our own minds. You can now rent and stream ‘Our Happy Place’ on Amazon.

‘Our Happy Place’ Rating – 3.25/5