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Husband and wife Sudanese refugees in England go up in front of a cold-bordering-on-hostile asylum review board, who give them a house to live in along with a bunch of extremely strict rules designed to make them miserable and prevent them from leading any kind of normal life. The house is haunted, but if they leave it or even let on that anything is wrong, they'll be sent back to die.
This premise is a perfect example of what horror can do. The haunting and the reasons why they're stuck with it illuminate the real-life horrors of what they fled and how they're treated in their new country; it's about literal and metaphoric ghosts, literal and metaphoric hauntings, all coming together in a taut, beautifully acted movie about trauma and guilt and survival.
This movie deals with some seriously dark subjects and is also fucking terrifying. The main characters are very sympathetic, and all that combined had me on the edge of my seat for the entire movie, right up to its perfect ending. Very powerful and rewarding if your heart can take it.
It stars Wunmi Mosaku (Ruby in Lovecraft Country) and Sope Dirisu, plus a slightly distracting Matt Smith in a supporting role. Written and directed by Remi Weekes, who has no other credits but a couple shorts. This is astonishing - it's an incredibly assured, well-directed movie. I really hope to see more from him.
His House on Netflix
This premise is a perfect example of what horror can do. The haunting and the reasons why they're stuck with it illuminate the real-life horrors of what they fled and how they're treated in their new country; it's about literal and metaphoric ghosts, literal and metaphoric hauntings, all coming together in a taut, beautifully acted movie about trauma and guilt and survival.
This movie deals with some seriously dark subjects and is also fucking terrifying. The main characters are very sympathetic, and all that combined had me on the edge of my seat for the entire movie, right up to its perfect ending. Very powerful and rewarding if your heart can take it.
It stars Wunmi Mosaku (Ruby in Lovecraft Country) and Sope Dirisu, plus a slightly distracting Matt Smith in a supporting role. Written and directed by Remi Weekes, who has no other credits but a couple shorts. This is astonishing - it's an incredibly assured, well-directed movie. I really hope to see more from him.
His House on Netflix
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Excellent! I heard fantastic things about this movie at a point in time when it was one hundred percent not available to me; I appreciate the pointer.
Have you seen Mati Diop's Atlantiques (2019)? I have not yet myself, but from what I have read of it, it sounds as though it might pair thematically.
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At least with His House, all those questions were part of the set-up. A refugee couple isn't going to have a local friends/family network. They'll barely know anyone in the area. They don't have a say in where they're gonna live. Even Well-meaning Matt Smith is going to be of limited help, because if the couple makes too much of a fuss, Well-meaning Matt Smith is going to have another refugee couple move in there, no problem.
I also liked how instead of the Big Sprawling Mansion In US Midddle Of Nowhere it was just a regular house in the suburbs. You don't need a big house or a remote location for it to be terrifying!
The different ways they dealt with their past was also beautifully handled, with the husband only focused on trying to fit in and refusing to talk to his wife about what was going on. Not that her initial way of dealing with things was much healthier...
Plus, overall, an optimistic ending!
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I also found the ending optimistic. They still have their ghosts, but they've learned to live with them.
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And so many great details, like the couple not being sure of what town they're actually in (I don't think the couple is told, but like I said, I watched it a while ago).
Which works on both the level of 'this situation is disorienting to the couple' and on the level of 'the location doesn't matter, this happens everywhere'.