Before you read this review, ask yourself one thing. What were you thinking about at the ripe old age of 14? If you’re the average teenager that answer probably landed somewhere on the spectrum between video games and sex. And perhaps 14 year old writer/director Nathan Ambrosioni has that on the brain too, but he also managed to make a feature film, and as it turns out it’s pretty good. Now don’t you feel like a slacker? You probably should, and while it’s not a perfect film, Hostile is well made and excites me about his future in the industry.

When a mysterious presence enters their home, Meredith notices that her newly adopted daughters Anna and Emilie have began to behave erratically. Desperate for answers, Meredith seeks outside help by bringing in SOS Adoption, a local television program that monitors how well orphans adjust into new homes. Hostile impresses early on with an original premise that’s backdropped with a thick sense of dread. Anna and Emilie may look like your average teenage girls but their unusual behavior underlies a hostility that kept me unease about my feelings towards them. I say that as a compliment. Often cookie cutter stories fall into the rut of characterizing “unusual” by adding an imaginary friend, Hostile manages to up the ante and create something more complicated here. The girls have a set of complex rules that makes their relationship with this presence an intriguing focal point. These rules, fabricated or real, add a sense of tension for Meredith and us as the viewer. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the situation and that type of uncertainty is rare and welcome in this day and age.

Hostile manages to up the ante and create something more complicated here.

It doesn’t hurt that Hostile is filled to the brim with strong performances. Anna and Emilie are great together, their bond genuinely feels like it took years to form, and it carries the film through. But it’s Shelly Ward as a mom at her wits’ end in Meredith that really stands out. She has the eyes of a woman that is out of options and desperate for help. Her actions can be questionable but that says less about her and more about an uneven script that can border on chaotic at times.

The writing in Hostile probably is the aspect that needs the most work. The dialog is a bit disjointed, but I wonder if that has more to do with poor translation, after all Hostile is a french film with english subtitles. The story itself is interesting and unique, but some plot threads could have been explained better, and the info dumps while well intentioned only help to reinforce that the script needed work. The film ties up loose ends, but some of the intentional ambiguity left me unsatisfied.

Watching Hostile may not give me a better understanding of what scares Nathan Ambrosioni, but I do recognize an eclectic taste for the horror genre that I can admire. Hostile tries to scare you in as many ways as possible. While some fall a bit flat and others can be seen from a mile away, the number of techniques used to scare the shit out of you is well noted and appreciated. It all adds up to create a world where threats can come from any angle, albeit some rather mild threats but threats nonetheless and that counts for something in my book.

…an uneven script that borders on chaotic at times

On the technical side, the camera work is a bit rough, but I can see what Ambrosioni is going for. The camera lingers on shots long enough, jump cuts are effective, and the way he leads the viewer into what he wants us to see works well here. I did have issues with some oddly timed cuts, but overall Hostile did a great job of pulling me into its world.

Hostile feels like a movie made by someone that loves horror. It avoids genre pitfalls impressively but could have benefitted from a tighter script and some more time in the editing room. Overall if you can look past these issues you have an intriguing film that wants to scare you every chance it gets.

Hostile is currently available on VOD and DVD.

Hostile Movie Poster