I watched it about a month ago, and it did SO MANY things with the whole haunted house trope that I enjoyed! I usually bounce off 'family moves into haunted house' movies for various reasons. Why did these people move in the first place? Why don't they look at the obviously spooky house and go 'nope'? Why don't they spend the night at a hotel or ask friends/family to sleep on the couch?
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...
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Date: 2021-01-24 11:52 am (UTC)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!