His House (2020)

(Netflix Streaming, December 2021) As far as premises go, blending a haunted-house story with an immigrant drama of culture shock is not bad at all: in the tradition of the best horror movies being less about monsters and more about a theme literally represented, His House presents an unusual take on an overly familiar topic, and manages to say something halfway interesting along the way. Our protagonists are an immigrant couple having made it to Great Britain despite terrible hardships, including the death of their daughter. Hardly greeted with open arms, they find themselves in a terrible apartment with some blunt directives: Don’t make trouble. Obey the law. Fit in. Or else: deportation. But that considerable burden becomes even more difficult to bear when a supernatural apparition starts haunting their new apartment: a presence out for revenge and the recognition of past wrongs. There’s an interpretation of His House that sustains a psychological drama angle — it’s all in the protagonist’s head, and the holes he knocks in the walls of the apartment reflect his errant state of mind. But while such an explanation may make academic dullards gleeful, it’s also the most boring. Far better to perceive the monster as a monster in addition to the incarnation of a metaphor. The rest of writer-director Remi Weekes’s film isn’t always so interesting, though: While there’s a caustic argument going on between husband and wife about whether they want to stay in the United Kingdom (this isn’t a heartwarming story of immigration), much of the film is a slow burn all the way to the final confrontation. Still, His House has more to say than the average horror film, and an angle of its material that feels unusual enough to be interesting.