This is Our Home (Review)
This is Our Home is Hard to Watch in the Best Possible Way.
It’s strange to find a horror movie where everything seems to come together perfectly. This is Our Home manages to nail it with perfect casting, profound and chilling cinematography, and plenty of creepiness. It’s a tumultuous film that perfectly captures a relationship in the throes of a downward spiral and the lengths that people will go in order to find fulfillment. This makes it hard to watch at times, but that’s just because it’s so well done. I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon this gut-wrenching and heartbreaking film.
This is Our Home tells the intimate tale of a couple (Simone Policano and Jeff Ayars) struggling to save their relationship before it falls apart. It’s clear that they still desperately love each other, but are having trouble moving past a trauma that has left them on edge and at each other’s throats. Getting away from it all seems like a good idea as they run off to an old family home to get some alone time. That is interrupted when a young boy (Drew Beckas) suddenly appears on their doorstep. His presence is like gasoline on a fire and soon the rift between them grows exponentially.
Let me start by saying that Policano and Ayars are phenomenal together. The chemistry between them makes their situation all the more heartbreaking as they constantly slide helplessly into arguments with each other. Their characters just can’t help it no matter how hard they try not to succumb to the anger and frustration that their pain creates. At the same time, they keep a flicker of hope alive as they try to get back to the way they used to be. That hope is contagious and even as things fall apart, you can’t help wanting them to get through it together. The old saying, “three’s a crowd,” comes into effect with the introduction of Beckas character, who excels at getting on everyone’s nerves. He creates Oedipal levels of animosity as he covets Policano and tries to turn her even more against Ayars. While she falls for him and desperately uses him to create the illusion of a mother and son bond that she has never known; it’s hard not to hate the little bastard just a little. I found Beckas to be obnoxious enough to fill me with disdain but not completely turn me off from the film.
Director Omri Dorani proves to be a brilliant visual storyteller. Everything we need to know about the couple is revealed in a brief montage at the opening that shows how distant they became and how much they want things to get better. He uses cinematography that is penetrating and yet claustrophobic, reflecting their oppressive relationship. More than that, it gives the audience a genuine reason to care about these characters and that makes it all the easier for the director to build tension over the course of This is Our Home. That is another reason why I was so enthralled with this film. Tension is the key to horror and so many movies these days fail to take it into account. It’s not the monster that scares us, it’s the knowledge that he’s lurking just out of sight and could attack at any moment. Dorani creates a slow burn as the film gradually pulls the characters apart until their relationship reaches a breaking point. Soon it becomes a question of who is really the bad guy in this story as each of them reveals the darkness within themselves.
By this point, it’s probably clear that This is Our Home is the horror equivalent of a break- up movie (similar in vein to this year’s Midsommar). This is a film that is filled with grief and resentment that simmers and builds just below the surface. It’s never directly addressed, but it’s clearly there and the audience is forced to wait until the pot eventually boils over. The horror element creates a great deal of unease as it’s not clear exactly what will happen when that moment occurs or what the characters might truly be capable of. This combination proves to be close to perfect as This is Our Home manages to differentiate itself from so many other horror movies with creepy kids and questionable old homes. The human elements make the supernatural ones all the more visceral and chilling.
This is Our Home owes a lot to the two leads and the way they’re able to make every aspect of their performances seem unquestionable and natural. They provide the perfect foundation for Omri Dorani who builds an incredible film around them. It’s a delightful horror movie that is a far cry from what fans of the genre might be used to. The secret is the tension it builds over the course of the film that reaches a level that is almost nauseating. I was sick with dread during certain points and that speaks volumes to the craftsmanship that went into making this film. I look forward to seeing exactly what Dorani is capable of in the future because he’s certainly a director worth keeping an eye on.
