'The Unfamiliar' Trailer: An Army Medic Home From War Senses Something Malevolent In Her Home

What if you were experiencing something supernatural in your house, but everyone around you shrugged it off as a mental health condition? That's the set-up of The Unfamiliar, a creepy-looking British horror movie that just dropped a new trailer. In the film from director Henk Pretorius, an Army medic returns home from war and begins experiencing creepy stuff all over her house. Her family assumes it's PTSD. But...what if it's not?

The Unfamiliar wasn't on my radar, but after this trailer, I'm interested. There's a great one-shot here involving a shower curtain that's more effective than most of the junk we see in big-budget horror. In The Unfamiliar, "British Army Doctor, Elizabeth "Izzy" Cormack, returns from war to rekindle her relationship with her estranged family. Izzy notices numerous inexplicable activities in her house that her husband believes are due to her suffering from PTSD as a consequence of war. Izzy militantly pieces the daunting puzzle together to reveal a terrifying, invisible enemy that has infested her entire family. In a heroic attempt to save her family, she is pulled into a dark underworld in Hawaii to explore ancient mythology."

The film's exploration of Hawaiian mythology sounds like a fresh approach to material like this. The director has the following statement regarding that approach:

Decoding the Hawaiian mythology and the meaning of each cultural reference in The Unfamiliar may feel like assembling a complex puzzle with the lead character; a puzzle that consists of tiny pieces that were left for the audience to find and to ultimately make sense of. Hawaii is often portrayed as an idyllic holiday destination, with friendly local people that serve tourists. But look closer and you will find a wealth of mythological creatures, beliefs and mysteries woven into the psyche of the Native Hawaiians (Kanaka Maoli). The Unfamiliar explores some of these mythological creatures, combined with ancient ritual (transference) and a Hawaiian shaman (Kahuna).

The cast includes Jemima West, Christopher Dane, Rebecca Hanssen, Rachel Lin, Harry McMillan-Hunt Director, with Henk Pretorius directing from a script co-written by Jennifer Nicole Stang. Look for the film on August 21, 2020.