His House

Exploring themes of grief, trauma, immigration, assimilation, remorse & acceptance through a horror lens, His House is a haunting & harrowing depiction of the refugee experience and, in addition to capturing their inward & outward struggle in adjusting to new life in new place, also delivers as a thrilling & effective haunted house chiller.

Written & directed by Remi Weekes, the film blends character drama & genre thrills into one finely layered narrative and holds nothing back when unleashing the terror that dwells within the walls of their new home. While there are times when the story becomes perplexing, everything adds up & makes sense once the full picture of the characters' backstory is revealed.

The atmosphere within the rundown residence is palpably tense & often unsettling, and though Weekes relies on jump scares to frighten the viewers, most of them do work out in the film's favour. Wunmi Mosaku & Sope Dirisu play the young refugee couple seeking asylum after escaping their war-torn homeland, and they both chip in with performances that are credible, grounded & convincing.

Overall, His House is a welcome entry in the world of horror and also marks a solid debut for Remi Weekes' directorial career. The proper care with which he sketches the characters' troubled past, vulnerable present & uncertain future, and brings it in sync with the immigrant issues gives his picture a relevant touch & relatable appeal. One of the better horror entries in Netflix canon, His House is certainly worth a shot.

Decided to watch this film on Halloween as pretty much watched all the classics over the October month and i found this little gem very refreshing. Netflix has been disappointing this halloween with the terrible blyth manor but they pulled it back with this one. A horror story with heart that makes you feel lucky for the life you have. It tells the story of two asylum seekers and the struggles they face to settle in a new country BUT something has come along with them!! The story flows nicely, the acting is a decent effort and there are some very good jump scares. Some of the dream scenes are beautifully shot and kind of reminded me a bit of the scenes in The Ritual. Its not all horror but that shouldn't stop you giving this one a go.

Going in I thought I'd know what this film was about, I mean a film in 2020 about two black refugees going through the immigration system in Britain how can it be anything but what I'm expecting it to be? But I was wrong, and I am so glad I was.

Another reviewer said that this is "woke" and a commentary on immigration, it isn't, not at all. This is not a film about race or the differences in race or the difficulties of adjusting to living in a new country, it's not trying to say anything about the immigration system it's just telling a story that happens to involve new immigrants to a country, saying this is a commentary on immigration is like saying Jaws is a commentary on water safety or Die Hard 2 is a commentary on airport security.

This film is a supernatural horror about the desperate things that people will do to survive and the consequences of those actions, and it's one of the most entertaining horrors I've seen for a while with some genuinely unsettling scenes, I can only hope people don't dismiss it because of a few ignorant reviewers who see imaginary agendas whenever there are black characters leading a film.

8/10

Different and memorable. Not predictable, left me wondering in what order it was written.

It starts well, midway you think it's following a standard horror movie course, but stick with it! Very well done. Terrific ending!