I had started watching this awhile ago, and bailed out on it (or fell asleep, technicalities.)I came back to it today because I was looking at an online list of horror movies. Trying to find the Fangoria top 100, and came across the Rotten Tomatoes top 200 horror movies. I plan to start going through said list, but I had to jump back on this one as RT listed it as #1. This will likely be a bit spoilery about that post I plan to start.

But to start with. No.

Can also end with. No.

This is in no way the #1 horror movie ever.

What’s it about I hear you asking. A couple, Bol and his wife Rial, have fled their home in war torn Sudan and are seeking asylum/refugee status in the UK. They are temporarily holed up in a facility restricting their access to the world. Essentially it is jail for them until they either get approval or forced to go home.

They are given temporary status and assigned a home and a stipend to carry them until they get full approval which is likely a year. Matt Smith (from Doctor Who) makes a surprise appearance as the agent who shows them their new residence. Don’t get too excited, he has four scenes for a total screen time of about 10 minutes. Of course he is good, but it isn’t his story. 

After taking possession of their new home, Bol starts experiencing supernatural things. There is something in the walls. At first he thinks it is just some critter, but that is rapidly thrown out as something sinister is at play here. In the dark things are tormenting him. But when brought into the light, they disappear. 

The story is about how Bol is trying to survive these attacks. Something that isn’t impacting his wife, beyond the obvious way that it messes with her home life.

In this I don’t really want to get into too much of the story, because in a way I’ve already gone into all of it.

This movie was pretty good, and I feel confident in rating it 6 stars. It was good enough, but I have no desire to own it or watch it again. In some ways I think this has been overly inflated in the reception to it because it deals with a political issue of refugees and immigration. It came across to me as half horror and half documentary.