UNWELCOME: Embrace It

Too often, horror films fall under the category of unwelcome. For whatever reason, these films fall short, leaving an empty experience for their audience. Thankfully, Jon Wright‘s latest film Unwelcome is a horror that will be embraced with open arms. And with St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, this is the horror film the holiday has been waiting for.

Step aside Warwick Davis, there’s a new Leprechaun in town.

Brutal Opening, Soft Landing

There is a softness to the early moments of Unwelcome, a young couple waiting to find out if they are finally pregnant. As we wait with them for the results of the test, audiences are given a glimpse into their chemistry and personal mantra – “it’s you and me against the world”. Early on it crafts a sense of isolation, security and mutual coexistence. As the camera is initially confined to their small London flat, it only exemplifies the feeling of the bubble these two have been living in, as well as the choice they have made to potentially expand it.

As Maya (Hannah Joan-Kamen) and Jamie (Douglas Booth) read the positive result, the film takes on a feeling of exuberance, their potential struggles to conceive lingering just below the surface. As Maya goes to take another test to confirm the result, Jamie makes his way to the shop to pick up some nonalcoholic Prosecco to celebrate. Unwelcome does not immediately rip the joy away from its duo or its audience, letting the ominous feeling slowly seep in. But when it breaks through, it is a brutal demolition of their crafted bubble.

As the couple is brutally beaten by three men who accosted Jamie outside the shop, the film effectively sets its emotional and psychological framework for its central duo. The aftermath of the home invasion and brutal beating will follow them throughout the film, even as they embrace an unexpected, yet welcomed change.

While audiences may still be reeling from the brutal opening, Unwelcome quickly moves itself, and subsequently its characters, forward. As the title of the film is shown to the backdrop of a wooden door, the camera slowly pulls away, showing an elderly women collapsed on the group, emergency services responding. While an effective transition, it does feel slightly out of place as there is no context for its inclusion. This is further compounded as the film looses some of its steam and intensity as it once again transitions to extended wide shots of a car moving on a seemingly abandoned road. Shot from above, viewers learn it is Maya and Jamie traveling to their new home, having inherited following the death of the woman shown just before.

As their dialogue fills viewers in, there is a disconnect to the composition of sound and screen, almost as though one was watching a transitioning moment within a video game. While brief, it robs the film of its authenticity and lived-in feel. And just as shots of the moving car begin to wear on the audience’s patience, Maya and Jamie arrive at their new home and we learn of the aftermath of their home invasion. Nine months have passed by, indicated only by the size of Maya’s stomach, and fear and anger lingers just below the surface. As the film progresses, the trauma from the film’s opening scene becomes more apparent through the interactions with the town’s folk and the inability to harness the control Jamie and Maya desperately need.

Trauma, Control and Inspirations

And while the film presents an intriguing look at trauma, it does so through the use of folklore. Yes, this is a film about trauma and regaining control – but it is also a film about Leprechauns. As told by Nieve, the local bartender, the Leprechauns will give help to those who ask for it – yet there is always a price to be paid. The Leprechauns linger throughout the film, unseen but always there. As the emergency responders attend to the collapsed woman, a first-person perspective from behind the wall hints to something in the woods. Where the use of this filming style is scarce, the film manages to infuse and maintain the feeling of their constant presence through attacks, buildings in the wood and the constant shared, and at times desperate, belief remunerating through the town’s folk.

Unwelcome is careful in timing its reveal of the Leprechauns as well, allowing the imagination and variations of folklore to fill in the gaps. But when they do, Wright does not hold back. And while they are brutal creatures, its hard to look at them and not find influences in their design from Star Wars’ Yoda and the animatronics of Gremlins. Their appearance may bring gore, it also brings a level of humor in their creation.

Though Unwelcome is not restricted just to Irish legends, reaching even further to infuse childhood fables like Rumpelstiltskin and paralleling the lack of control and trauma of Jamie and Maya with the aftermath of colonialism. As the film unveils its two-part conclusion, each of these elements infuses to create a broad spectrum view of what happens when we refuse to move past our trauma and our anger – and the sacrifices needed to regain control.

Conclusion

Though, while these influences and ideas work well to communicate the film’s examination of trauma and control, it sometimes feels as though it is juggling a bit too much. This feels most grounded as the film enters its second conclusion, “just one more thing” becoming its mantra. This is not the first time the film feels as though it could have done with tighter editing, with several montage scenes feeling forced to fill time. The same can be said for its final conclusion, a tighter editing or compression of ideas would have allowed it to be more cohesive with the entirety of the film.

Yet critiques aside, Unwelcome will lock you in. Its opening is brutal, and while it struggles at times to keep the same energy, it builds into a visual cacophony of gore, guts, and blood. A standout within the film’s ensemble, viewers will find they can not take their eyes of Hannah John-Kamen, her commanding performance demanding your attention. Her Maya feels the most layered and fleshed out, and John-Kamen works to bring every element to life.

Unwelcome works as a decent horror film in general, but with St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, it takes on a new vibrancy of success. For many, Ginger Snaps or the Leprechaun film franchise are staples of the holiday. Jon Wright’s latest is a welcomed addition to the holiday binge.

Unwelcome will be released in theaters on March 10, 2023 and VOD March 14, 2023!

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