Movie Review: "His House" (2020)

It's been a long time since we have been here and honestly it's mainly because I have not really watched anything worth reviewing in a long time. Mostly it's been re-runs of Paradise PD and after a while, those jokes really do wear off. But of course, I haven't actually been watching movies nearly as much as I used to and I'm kind of ashamed of myself in a way. I didn't watch this film when it came out but I've been looking for a good independent horror film to watch for a while. When I get sad or under the weather, I watch and read horror - so welcome back one and all. I hope you didn't miss me too much.

Directed by the relatively unknown Remi Weekes, His House is a mixture of social commentary and horror, which is something I always like to see. A blend of the terrible treatment of our refugees blended with the idea that they must endure the horrors of being outcasts, subjected to detention centres and then hauled up in a home not fit for purpose just makes for in-depth viewing that isn't just your typical horror movie.

Bol and Rial are refugees who’ve fled war-torn South Sudan with their daughter, Nyagak. They make a dangerous trip across the English Channel, hoping for a better life in the UK, but tragically, Nyagak and many others don’t survive the crossing. Once they finally get asylum, they’re given a pretty shabby house on the outskirts of London, complete with peeling walls and worn-out furniture. Their neighbours are anything but friendly, showing them plenty of racism and hatred.

Bol is all about trying to fit in. He sings football songs with English men in the pub. He’s determined to show they belong. Meanwhile, Rial holds on to their culture, keeping Nyagak’s necklace, wearing traditional colourful clothes that are pretty gorgeous compared to the goth stuff I wear.

Soon, weird things start happening in their new home. They see visions of Nyagak and a strange man who vanish into the walls. Rial figures out they’re being haunted by an apeth, or "night witch," and tells a story from her village about a man who was haunted after stealing from an apeth.

Bol tries to fix things by burning their belongings, but the hauntings get worse. He even goes to their caseworker, Mark, and asks for a new place, but Mark doesn’t buy his story about rats. Desperate, Bol tears apart the house looking for the apeth, risking their chance to stay in the UK. Rial wants to leave, but Bol locks her inside.

The apeth calls Bol a thief and offers a chilling deal: his life for Nyagak’s. It is a frightening deal yes, but there is always something you should think in these cases: they don't really want a deal, it's always a trick.

This film is pretty clever and culturally relevant, blending horror with real-life issues refugees face. Bol and Rial’s journey is both haunting and touching as they confront their past and try to build a new life in Britain, even with the ghosts of their memories still lingering.

It's quite light horror by my standards and fits in more with the style in which The Woman in Black (2012) is filmed. It is more tense than it is jump-scare horror and I appreciate that. However, one thing that is different is the way colour and lighting are used. I think that this more modern setting of a film uses colour in a range of ways in comparison to the film starring Daniel Radcliffe.

The one scene that stood out to me is when Rial goes to the doctors to get her blood pressure checked and gives that whispery speech to a culturally-blind female doctor who is appropriately absolutely horrified by what Rial has been through. It's one of the most in-tune horror films I've watched in a while but then again, it is so much more than that.

All in all, I found this film a strange mix of eerie and in the correct moment. It feels like it was meant to be made in the last five or six years as our insensitivity towards those who seek refuge from wars that (let's be honest here) the west pretty much started has been growing, our empathy being defeated because of mass media rubbish. It is a fantastic film that more people should watch.