Notable Cast: Hannah John-Kamen, Douglas Booth, Jamie Lee
O’Donnell, Chris Walley, Kristian Nairn, Colm Meaney, Niamh Cusack, Lalor Roddy
Having been a big fan of Grabbers, where drunkenness
is the only way to fight off an alien invasion, my expectations for director
Joe Wright’s latest horror comedy, Unwelcome, were reasonably high. To
try and temper those expectations, I didn’t watch or dig into any of the
promotional material for it and waited patiently for its release from our
friends at Well Go USA.
While the balance of horror and humor in Unwelcome
isn’t nearly as good as the previously mentioned Grabbers, it is one of the
year's more offbeat and fascinating films. Mainly because, when this bad boy is
boiled down to its bones, it’s basically Straw Dogs that happens to have
the Far Darrig (they are NOT leprechauns) in it. Throw in a dash of
Raimi-inspired slapstick horror along with some Italian gothic pops and it is a
combination that should be as entertaining as it is batshit insane. Yet, as the
film progresses, it becomes apparent that the balance of tones, narrative
buoyancy, and darker dramatic elements just cannot find their footing.