Director: Dominic Bridges
Writer: Dominic Bridges, Rae Brunton (Screenplay)
Starring: Javier Botet, Mandeep Dhillon, Mim Shaikh, Michael McKell, Kola Bokinni
Plot: An oily, amoral estate agent is preyed upon by one of his victims, who quietly moves into his flat and, unseen, begins a deliciously malicious campaign of revenge.
Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Very Creepy
Story: Freehold starts as we follow estate agent Hussein (Shaikh) go about his daily routines in his small London flat, but as soon as he leaves for a skinny man Orlan (Botet) appears, he has been secretly living in the flat, going around using the supplies while he is out.
When Mel (Dhillon) comes to live with Hussein we start to see the bigger picture of what Orlan’s plan is causing havoc in the flat, but what is his motivation for this?
Thoughts on Freehold
Characters – Orlan is the man secretly living in the flat, he seems to be making the life of the man living in the flat, sneaking around when he is asleep or at work, his motivation unfolds through the film, he does have a strikingly haunting look about him with his skinny bone structure coming through. Hussein is the estate agent that is living in the flat, he is very cocky with everything he does and starts to believe he is being haunted, though never investigates. Mel is the girlfriend of Hussein that wants to do the best with the small flat but soon gets tired of Hussein’s behavior.
Performances – Javier Botet does have an extremely creepy look which makes him stand out in this role which he is creepy throughout the film. Mandeep Dhillon isn’t in the film long enough to make the impact you feel she could have. Mim Shaikh is good in this role because he does end up being the person getting tortured through the film without knowing it.
Story – The story follows one man that tries to live his normal life, only for us to learn that he isn’t alone in his flat. The story follows this mysterious man doing random acts to try and make Hussein’s life a nightmare. Most of the film is following Hussein trying to keep everything together, leaving us to wonder just how far people will go through the get this to happen and whether we would be able to notice this.
Comedy/Horror – This does have an air of comedy about what is going on while not a full laugh out loud moment, the horror comes off the biggest part of the film because it shows just how difficult it could be to learn the truth.
Settings – The film is set inside the flat, which keeps everything together and adds the creepy disturbing factor the film needed.
Scene of the Movie – The first appearance of Orlan.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Orlan believes there is a ghost but never investigates more.
Final Thoughts – This is a short creepy movie that will keep you on edge form start to finish as we see just how far this one man will go and what would you do if you found out that someone was living in your flat.
Overall: Disturbing and creepy
Rating
