Unwelcome
It’s apparently a blessing in disguise for Jamie and Maya, the death of his great-aunt in rural Ireland giving the young couple a place to move into as they prepare for the birth of their first child, no longer feeling safe in London having been assaulted in their flat. The locals making them feel welcome, their status as distant extended family makes them part of the community, but there are also warnings.
Engaging the Whelan family to undertake necessary building repairs, including the hole in the roof above their bedroom, that decision swiftly turns out to be a mistake, but of greater concern is neighbour Maeve’s urgent insistence that each evening before sunset they must make a “blood offering” to the denizens of the forest immediately beyond the door at the foot of their garden, creatures which must be appeased lest they take offence and lay claim on something more precious.
A return to his homeland for Jon Wright, director of Grabbers which was set on the coast of that country, Unwelcome penetrates further into the Emerald Isle, across the green valleys into deep ancient forest and the mysteries lurking in the shadowed paths beneath the branches, Jamie and Maya (The Limehouse Golem’s Douglas Booth and Ready Player One’s Hannah John-Kamen) trading urban trauma for rural nightmare.
Where Grabbers‘ preposterous premise made light of the impending alien invasion held off by staying sloshed, Unwelcome is altogether bleaker, the sense of threat palpable and the violence frequent and grimly real, Maya’s advanced pregnancy leaving her vulnerable and Jamie’s frayed nerves leading him to react badly to every trigger while together they make futile attempts to turn the run-down house into a home.
At the mercy of “Daddy” (Colm Meaney) and his offspring (Kristian Nairn, Chris Walley and Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) who trample the spectrum from docile to belligerent, the Whelans become a menace every bit as insidious and dangerous as what the couple fled in London, forcing Maya to make a bargain of necessity with the forest, the price of which when due is inescapable but also somewhat obvious to anyone familiar with the underlying folklore.
The scenes set in the forest atmospheric and the inhabitants of that realm who stray beyond its borders to enact mayhem well executed, the fear dearg miniature marauders in jaunty costume akin to the troll of Cat’s Eye, they’re a contrast to the house which sits under studio lighting, a jarring discontinuity in a film which doesn’t manage to balance its elements, Unwelcome a viewing experience too often uncomfortable when a lighter approach might have made it enjoyable.
Unwelcome will be on general release from Friday 27th January
