This year, Halloween will last longer, especially after the addition of British horror-drama ‘His House,’ to Netflix’s new and impressive horror movies list! The film tracks the life of a refugee couple from South Sudan who sacrifice everything to get a new life in England. After staying at a detention camp for some time, they finally manage to get their own house.
Despite its deteriorating condition, the two protagonists feel happy, having found their own much-awaited home. However, they soon bear witness to some seemingly supernatural phenomenon and realize that their new place might be haunted. ‘His House’ is an exceptional film that perfectly blends classic horror tropes with PTSD and survivor’s guilt. The movie has received many positive reviews so head over to Netflix in case you haven’t watched this masterpiece or continue reading in case you have!
His House Plot Synopsis
The film begins with Bol (Sope Dirisu) running around in a desert with Nyagak (Malaika Wakoli-Abigaba) in his arms, as the two and Rial (Bol’s wife played by Wunmi Mosaku) get on a truck to leave the war-torn South Sudan behind finally. While on an escape boat, several refugees, including Nyagak, drown. After Bol and Rial eventually reach England, they stay confined to a refugee camp for a long period of time.
When they are finally allowed to go, they are advised that they must adhere to an explicit set of rules. The house that they are offered is in a terrible condition, and their caseworker Mark (Matt Smith) binds their freedom by introducing even more restrictions. Despite all this backlash, Bol and Rial’s optimism gives them a chance to have seemingly fresh start all over again. However, Nyagak’s death acts like a looming shadow over all their plans.
Bol believes that the two have grieved long enough, and now its time to move on.
Rial rejects this idea and decides not to let go of the pain and the loss. Later, the couple discover that some evil is haunting them in that house, an evil that has followed them ever since they escaped from Africa. Both of them begin to have visions, and horrifyingly, Rial also starts communicating with this being. The two get trapped in a trashy home with a supernatural entity, and the only way they can save themselves is by fighting back.
His House Ending Explained
Image Source: Netflix
We learn that the evil is actually ‘Apeth‘, a night witch who comes after anyone who has stolen something precious from her. It is insinuated that Bol has definitely done something that has upset the creature given the way he gets uncomfortable as they offer an exposition to the spirit through Rial.
Why Are Bol and Rial Being Haunted?
Back in South Sudan, when Rial was a teacher, everyone in her school was massacred by a terrorist party. Rial managed to survive somehow by hiding from them until Bol, who worked as a banker, came for her. After this incident, they decide to leave the country, and while getting on a bus, Bol notices that only the people who have children will be allowed inside. This is when Bol basically abducts Nyagak, who was looking for her mother, out of desperation.
Bol grabs her, and even after Nyagak’s actual mother returns and starts crying to have her back, he doesn’t let her go. As a consequence, the witch follows the pair all the way back to London. The Apeth also tries to turn Rial against Bol by making a deal that if she wants Nyagak, she has to open Bol’s flesh, so that she can hurt him. Since Bol desperately wanted to leave behind everything in his past, he tries his best to forget his roots and assimilate in the British crowd. This causes a rift between the couple, and the witch feeds on it, as Rial disagrees on adapting this approach.
On Choosing A Future
To drive out the evil inside of Rial, the Apeth lures her in with the visions of her old life. Her dead students are brought back from the unhealable dents they had left in her memory. But, the tables turn, as Bol has a change of heart and decides to sacrifice himself so that Rial can be happy by having Nyagak back. The Apeth starts torturing Bol but fails, as Rial realizes that her home is not South Sudan now, but in London, with her husband, Bol. She accepts the possibility of having a safe and sound future with her husband instead of living in the past. She attacks the Apeth and kills her, ending her effect on their lives.
Image Source: Netflix
A Tale Of Two Refugees
His House ends on a relatively happier note, with Mark and two of his colleagues visiting Bol and Rial in London. They observe how the two have surprisingly embraced their new lives in London. The movie ends realistically, indicating that even though it appears that the two refugees have made remarkable progress, it does not mean that they have forgotten their pats. The movie metaphorically tells the horrors refugees face, right from the incident that culminates in them leaving their birth country, to the aftermath of PTSD that follows their unfortunate journeys. The two will always have to try hard live happily despite the pain of losing Ngayak and every person that died, back in their home, in South Sudan. Even though this loss is now a part of their past, it will always remain in their memories, as a baggage they can never truly let go.