His House
Dreams, hallucinations and everyday horrors collude to turn the life of two asylum seekers into a living nightmare.
Sorry We Spooked You: Sope Dirisu
In a
war-torn pocket of South Sudan, Bol, Rial and Nyagak embark on the most
dangerous journey of their lives. With the ring of gunfire in their ears, they
board a crowded bus and then an equally crowded boat to seek asylum in England.
Amazingly, Bol and Rial reach a detention centre in the UK – but without their
daughter, who drowned en route. And then their nightmare really begins…
In a golden
age of horror, fledgling filmmakers have reached into all sorts of ghoulish
corners to bring fear into our hearts. To spotlight asylum seekers struggling
to forge a new life in England almost seems like cheating. Although Bol and
Rial are given a house in which to live, it is a crumbling shell on a derelict
estate that resembles a prison block. In fact, their new home is a prison – they are not allowed to
work or to leave and have to subsist on £74 a week. And if they do not report
weekly to their case worker, they will be deported back to Sudan. Rial (Wunmi
Mosaku) is at first amazed by the size of their new home; Bol (Sope Dirisu) is less
impressed by the imaginative electrics. Rubbish is piled outside, the walls are
peeling inside and there are gaping holes everywhere. Still, it’s a first step.
Remi Weekes,
whose first feature this is, unfolds the opening scenes of His House with cinematic flair, whether focusing on the
apprehensive face of the couple’s child or a close-up of girl’s blonde-haired
doll. Once in England, Weekes ratchets up the tension by showing the utter disorientation
of the refugees. When Bol visits the barber for the first time, he asks him,
“Where are we?” – to which the man with the clippers replies, “High Street, mate.”
Rial, on her first venture out on the cold, identikit streets, approaches three
black schoolboys for directions. They purposefully misdirect her, while one of
them, having made fun of her accent, shouts, “Go back to fuckin’ Africa, man!”
Racism is everywhere.
But as Bol
starts sprucing up the house with supplies from a cut-price supermarket, greater
threats start to emerge. The house is patently haunted, but were the ghosts
already there or did Bol and Rial bring them with them? It is here that the time-honoured
tropes are brought – literally – moaning out of the closet, and a tedious familiarity
descends on the film.
A seriously
missed opportunity, His House could
have been Insidious re-visited by Ken
Loach – with a splash of I Am Not a Witch
thrown in for good measure. If it had dared to be less of a generic horror film
and more of a punch of social realism, the horror would have taken care of
itself. Remi Weekes exhibits enormous verve – and promise – as a filmmaker, but
if he tries less hard next time, he might find himself with something really
special.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Sope Dirisu, Wunmi Mosaku, Matt
Smith, Malaika Wakoli-Abigaba, Dominic Coleman, Vivienne Soan, Lola May.
Dir Remi Weekes, Pro Aidan Elliott, Martin Gentles, Arnon Milchan, Ed King and Roy
Lee, Screenplay Remi Weekes, from a
story by Felicity Evans and Toby Venables, Ph
Jo Willems, Pro Des Jacqueline
Abrahams, Ed Julia Bloch, Music Roque Baños, Costumes Holly Rebecca, Dialect
coach Zabarjad 'Budgie' Salam.
Regency Enterprises/BBC Films/Vertigo Entertainment/Starchild Pictures-Netflix.
92 mins. UK. 2020. Rel: 30 October 2020. Cert. 15.