This horror cum thriller revolves around a Sudanese refugee couple who are granted a probation asylum in London. But… either their new house has something malevolent or maybe their past.
Writer / Director – Remi Weeks
Cast – Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu, Matt Smith
Plot
The film opens to show Bol and Rial, along with their daughter, fleeing Sudan. While crossing the choppy waters of the English Channel, when the boat capsizes, they loose their daughter.
In London, they are granted probatory asylum and allotted a mysteriously big house in which they both have unexplainable experiences.
Yet, Bol is desperate to settle and fit in. But Rial has reasons to believe that they must return back.
What was it that was actually haunting them ?
Analysis
The film makes an impressive start and has your curiosity peaked right from the word go. If you haven’t read much about the film, you would enjoy being led into a direction without knowing where it leads.
Soon, the atmospherics turn scary and the horror buffs would love the moments of fear. All this while, the story is not only suspenseful but also maintains an emotional angle to it.
Credible performances by Wunmi and Sope are heart winning and realistic. While precariously balancing the fear, suspense and emotional quotient, the story also highlights the pain and horror the people of war ridden countries go through and the trauma and dilemma the refugees live with.
Though the duration of the film is a crisp 1 hour 30 min, at some points, it does seem repetitive. Nevertheless , it successfully engages you, at many moments scares you, emotionally tug at you and also manages to surprise you .
I guess that makes it completely worth the time.