A film that has been delayed more than its fair share, Jon Wright’s Unwelcome has at last arrived in UK cinemas. Unwelcome stars Douglas Booth and Hannah John-Kamen as married couple Jamie and Maya who encounter trouble, both human and other in origin, when they relocate to Ireland.
Before the setting shifts to Ireland, Unwelcome introduces Jamie and Maya in their London home. The two share a small flat on an estate. They are enjoying a quiet night of celebration, Maya just having discovered she is pregnant, when a trio of thugs invade their home and torment the couple. Wright’s opening is unexpectedly mean and aggressive. Were Unwelcome to be a short, this section would leave audiences an emotional wreck. The opening sequence distils the malice built up across the entirety of James Watkins’ hoodie horror, Eden Lake. It is painful to watch, but is effective at generating sympathy for the central couple.
The setting then shifts to rural Ireland months later. Maya is now heavily pregnant and both are still scarred by their shared ordeal. Hoping that the quiet life will help them heal, they are thrilled to have inherited their new house from Jamie’s Aunt Maeve. Much like Maya and Jamie, the property requires work; big patches of roof are missing for one. Their new home also comes with an unexpected responsibility: each night they must leave a ‘blood offering’ at the end of their garden for the Far Darrig, mythical malevolent creatures who dress in red caps. After shirking their duty, Maya and Jamie find themselves in hot water.
Unwelcome seeks to straddle two lines – horror and comedy. It does not feel like an intentional comedy horror however; Instead Wright attempts to create a serious and creepy tale, with humour sprinkled in for relief of tension. The problem is that there is an imbalance of tone as the funnier elements don’t quite land, and some of the more serious moments stray into farce. Part home invasion, part eighties creature feature (think Critters), Unwelcome presents the viewer with a wobbly journey. It is at its strongest when channelling sister Irish folk horror The Hallow, Wright creating some great instances of tension. Much of the dread and unease comes through the relationship between Jamie, Maya, and the family they employ to fix their house, the Whelans. They’re rough and antagonistic and pose far more of a threat than the creatures lurking outside.
Despite the marketing and synopsis, the Far Darrig pose far less of a potent threat than the Whelan clan. They exist on the periphery of the story, skulking in the background. Their presence is known and felt, but so much energy is pumped into the human danger that they don’t work as well as one would hope. The arrival of the Far Darrig is what ultimately pushes Unwelcome into silly territory. While the practical effects are a great inclusion, and the Red Capped army are aptly sinister in appearance, their actions and speech diminish the scare factor. Their awkward behaviour is the driving factor of the more amusing elements of the film, casting Unwelcome back to the heyday of the eighties.
A film that would work far better was to pick a tonal side, Unwelcome instead see-saws between silly and serious. The inability to balance tone and the need to include the sillier elements deflates what could otherwise be something quite unnerving.
Unwelcome
Summary
An interesting throwback to eighties creature features, Unwelcome unfortunately falls foul of its incapacity to hone in on a tone
Unwelcome is in UK cinemas now.
