INHABITANTS (2025)

3 stars

Miracle Media. Digital. 26th January

Young couple Francis (Josh Rivera) and Olivia (Anna Jacoby-Heron) are moving in together. There is a box from his Mum that he opens. In there is a poorly painted picture of Jesus, a Bible, a crucifix and rosaries. Not so much a housewarming present but a reminder of his strict religious upbringing – as he is a lapsed Catholic. They are living together out of wedlock. Shock, horror! At least he got something from his mother – Olivia’s parents haven’t even called her.

Despite this, they start to build their life together – exploring the local area, setting up their home. She is into rocks and crystals and new age thinking and gets a job at a local shop that sells that kind of thing.

Odd things soon start to happen at night. In the darkness she awakens to find Francis sitting up in bed. ‘He’s here’ he says enigmatically. He is frightened by something he is seeing. Is it the medication he is on? As Olivia starts to delve into her husband’s upbringing, to see if it holds any clues, they soon realise they are being haunted by a figure from his past. Can Olivia use her new age mumbo jumbo to cleanse the house of its evil. Or will they have to reach out to his mother for help?

Written and directed by Matthew McClung this is a slow build horror with creeping camerawork, with much of it a well acted two hander. It is about the powerful hold a strict religious upbringing can have over people and how it can seem like punishment for their perceived sins. It is ultimately a little too sluggish to be fully effective though things do get going in the end.

Steve Kirkham