Rent The Unfamiliar (2020)

Very very annoying - The Unfamiliar review by SL

This film is advertised on this site as having subtitles and it hasn't. Therefore people with hearing difficulties are not permitted to enjoy/watch it.

What is particularly, no that's not strong enough, what is bloody annoying is that this has been remarked upon in 2021 and still in 2023 this site misleads us.

Eye wateringly awful. - The Unfamiliar review by AM

Oh dear, oh dear - never gets going, acting - non existent - not just bad or wooden, non existent.

Comes across as formulaic, cheap and barely worthy of release. No one should have to pay to watch this.

And, a lack of subtitles should be illegal.  

A near miss ... - The Unfamiliar review by NP

In this DVD’s accompanying interviews, main actress Jemima West (Elizabeth) describes this film’s strong female characters as ‘empowering’. And it’s true to say that apart from young Tommy (Harlym McMilan-Hunt, who puts in a terrific performance alongside West), males are given secondary status; co-lead Christopher Dane (as Ethan) is suitably wet and distant (in a scene when their daughter needs to be resuscitated, for example, he stands back weeping whilst Elizabeth goes about the business of saving her life). If you’re a fan of female empowerment, you’ll like that.

As a horror film, it begins quite well but gets more confusing and bogged down with its own story, so that by the time the Cormack family move to Hawaii, you might be wondering if it’s worth the struggle trying to keep on top of events.

Director and co-writer Henk Pretorius does a credible job of building up the nature of the threat, but as his film rolls on, it becomes overwhelmed by the various ways to defeat it, and the increasing ways it defies those intentions. Even by the very end, the audience is given yet another jolt that adds to the jumble rather than providing yet another shock. My score is 5 out of 10.