Films that deal with the occult will often tread on same and familiar territory but then there are pictures like His House which step outside the comfort zone.
Remi Weekes’ feature mixes the social commentary surrounding asylum seekers and adds a supernatural twist.
Firstly, the performances by Sope Dirisu and Wunmi Mosaku as our central couple are layered and superb, and really captures the essence of fear attached to coming to a foreign country with nothing for the first time.
Part of the performance is their paranoia about their surroundings, but luckily His House doesn’t go for a tried and tested racism route; and focuses more on state of mind instead of colour of skin.
The scares are well timed and coupled with decent pacing do not overstay their welcome, although when Weekes wants to he will turn it up to 11.
At 93 minutes His House is also a lean and mean occult machine which shows that there is plenty of new themes for horror to explore, we just need more like Weekes to take those chances.
His House is available now on Netflix.
