Eli on Netflix is bogged down by its need to be spooky
Horror movies are often at their scariest when they tap into some deep-seated fear we all have. This could be something as abstract as the dark or as inevitable as death.
Eli, our protagonist after whom this Netflix horror is named, is afraid of a lot of things –which makes sense since he starts the movie with a fatal allergy to, well, everything. Light, air, water, dust. But not cotton or denim, cause he wears clothes. But anyway...
His mom Rose (Kelly Reilly) is placating and babying while his father Paul (Max Martini) is gruff and unsympathetic – opposite sides of the same bad parent coin.
His dreams of being cured are tantalisingly close to becoming reality when he is brought to a clean house, run by Dr Isabella Horn (Lili Taylor) and undergoes intense treatment. What we are meant to figure out, whoever, is whether it's the treatment, the house or just Eli himself that causes him to see spooky creatures in the dark corners of the hallway.
Netflix acquired the rights to Eli from Paramount, reportedly because Paramount couldn't figure out how to market the film – which isn't surprising when you sit down to watch it. It's a horror, yes, but something else, too. What that is remains elusive, even after one hour and 38 minutes.
Eli taps into our shared fear when we don't know what is wrong with us. We put our trust and faith in doctors, relinquishing the most sacred thing we have to them: control over our lives.
By giving this experience over to a child, it doubles the anxiety. Not only does Eli have no control over his body, but his parents don't listen to him because he's just a kid. But there is someone who listens to him, a mysterious red-haired girl (Haley, played by Stranger Things' Sadie Sink) who comes to his window. Is she spooky? Sort of. Mostly she's annoying.
A seasoned horror fan, however, will be let down by the frequent use of jump-scares and spooky shadows, words mysteriously carved into things. Are they an omen or are they a warning? OoOooOoo0oOOOOo0…
Unfortunately, the film gets bogged down in a need to be spooky. There's only so many times you can listen to a ten-year-old boy scream "No, let go of me!" before you want to hit the mute button.
For most of the film, in the bits in between the jump-scares, Eli presents as a movie about bodily autonomy, growing up, loss of trust in authority – whether it's parents or doctors. But then something pops out from behind a cupboard and you're thrown back into a mediocre horror movie.
When the final twist comes it is entirely out of left field, so much so that it suddenly feels like the first half of the movie you just watched belongs to something else entirely. This might not be considered by all to be a bad thing, but it makes for a disjointed watching experience.
Eli is now available to stream on Netflix.
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