I headed back to my local Cineworld the other night for the Unlimited Screening of the new movie Unwelcome which stars Hannah John-Kamen and Douglas Booth as a couple who escape their urban nightmare to the tranquillity of rural Ireland only to discover malevolent, murderous goblins lurking in the gnarled, ancient wood at the foot of their new garden.
Additional cast includes Golden Globe nominee Colm Meaney, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Chris Walley and Kristian Nairn. Directed by Jon Wright, the film is based on an original screenplay by Mark Stay.
The film has reunited the Grabbers creature team; including prosthetics by Shaune Harrison who has worked on some of the world’s highest-grossing blockbusters including the Harry Potter films, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and Avengers: Age of Ultron along with creature designs by Paul Catling (Maleficent, Thor, Fantastic Beasts) and longtime Wright collaborator VFX supervisor Paddy Eason (28 Weeks Later, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Grabbers).
Going into the Unlimited Screening of Unwelcome, I only knew about the plot from the available small synopsis and the movie trailer. It was the trailer that grabbed my attention for this new movie.
From the very start of the movie, you get the “Indie horror” feeling, Maya (John-Kamen) and Jamie (Booth) live in an area that they don’t like and after the joyous news that they are expecting Jamie goes to the local shop for some non-alcoholic Prosecco but is confronted with a gang of youths that harass him, shortly after the youths invade Maya and Jamie’s flat in a brutal home invasion that really is shocking to watch.
After the death of Jamie’s aunt the two move to Ireland to take over the aunt’s house and are greeted by Maeve (Niamh Cusack) who tells Maya that she must leave out a blood offering at the bottom of the garden mythical creatures, known as the redcaps, that live in the woods and that she should never forget to do so.
Of course, we all know that not everything is going to go to plan and after the couple a family of contractors to do the work on the house that is very much needed, the family that they have got in to do the world become more trouble than they have expected with history somewhat repeating itself as “Daddy” (Colm Meaney) and his family take advantage of Maya and Jamie.
In a twist of fate Maya asks for the help of the redcaps after being attacked in the woods where the redcaps reside.
I wasn’t expecting too much horror in Unwelcome with its 15 certificate, so the slow build-up of the story did seem to drag a little, but the wait for the redcaps to finally make their appearance was well worth it. The creatures kind of reminded me of a more twisted Gollum from the Hobbit, heck some of them even sound like Smeagal, but one thing I really wasn’t anticipating was the sheer comedy that these creatures bring to the movie, there are so many moments that had me laughing out very loudly.
The gore in Unwelcome really doesn’t make much of an appearance until the redcaps come to the screen and it’s done nicely with just enough of the red stuff to allow the film to get that 15 rating. This movie is very much one that pulls all the stops out in the last part of the movie and as I mentioned earlier it is worth the wait, the ending of the film does go all sorts of crazy to bring it to a conclusion, but strangely enough, it works.
I enjoyed the cast in the movie and the cinematography is very nicely done especially in those dark scenes in the woods as the shimmers of sunlight peeping through the trees and the ariel shots over the huge dark and sinister forest.
Christian Henson’s soundtrack sounds great in the cinema and its various styles certainly add to the tension of the movie throughout.
If you are looking for something a little different with a rather weird twist then this is certainly a movie that you may want to check out.
UNWELCOME is directed by Jon Wright and stars Hannah John-Kamen, Douglas Booth, Colm Meaney, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Chris Walley and Kristian Nairn and Niamh Cusack, the film will be released on Digital from the 27th of February 2023.
Watch out for those RedCap
Movie title: Unwelcome (2022)
Movie description: Married couple Maya and Jamie escape their urban nightmare to the tranquillity of rural Ireland only to discover malevolent and murderous goblins lurking in the gnarled, ancient wood at the foot of their new garden.
Date published: January 26, 2023
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 44m
Director(s): Jon Wright
Actor(s): Hannah John-Kamen, Douglas Booth, Colm Meaney,
Genre: Horror
Summary
A horror with an unexpected comedy element that takes a fresh take on the horror of Goblins!
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
