Making a decent -- and I mean JUST decent -- horror movie is hard. REALLY hard. But those of us in the audience who don't work in the industry don't owe filmmakers any allegiance, just because they put something together and got it released. So, for the people criticizing the critics, please give it a rest!
Anyway, at first, I thought the acting was part of the problem, but really, the acting was not bad. The problem is the script. You cannot simply act your way out of an awful script. Bunch of twenty-somethings, supposedly med school grads, who sound like high school dropouts? Yep! All your favorite-lame horror movie plot devices? You name 'em, we got 'em! OK, so maybe it's not much worse than most typical bad Hollywood scriptwriting. Thing is, those medium- to big-budget productions can distract from a mediocre script with glitz and dazzle, star power and CGI. Can a tiny film like this pull it off?? Well, as I said, the acting was okay. It was well-shot, direction was meh (no suspense, not even a legitimate jump-scare), sound mixing was poor, special effects and make-up were fairly good... But the script! The damn script!!!
Finally, if you think it's a good idea to use your horror movie as a vehicle for your message of diversity and inclusiveness, whatevs, but your movie better be damn good. Otherwise, you risk not only annoying your audience, but tarnishing the brand you're trying to promote.
Low-budget filmmakers really should be trying to make films that push the envelope in unexpected ways, not trying to make more paint-by-numbers B-movies ready for the DVD/Netflix dustbin. Sadly, this film sits squarely in the latter category.
I'll give them this: the protagonist, and later on the creature, crashing down the stairs? genuinely funny! (If that was intended, I should probably give it another 2 stars.)