August 31, 2022
After sending in a DNA sample, New York City waitress Evie Jackson (Nathalie Emmanuel) discovered that she is related to a family in England. Soon after, a charming young Englishman Oliver Alexander (Hugh Skinner) met with her, claiming she was his long-lost cousin, from a line stemming from a scandalous affair. He invited her to fly back with him to England to attend an upcoming wedding and meet the rest of the family at the same time.
They were welcomed into the stately mansion of Walter DeVille (Thomas Doherty), who is hosting the grand event. In the pre-wedding events, Oliver introduced Evie to the members of the Alexander family who were all very welcoming to her. At another event, she met the two maids-of-honor, the snooty Viktoria (Stephanie Corneliussen) and the friendly Lucy (Alana Boden), Before long, Evie found herself falling for her handsome host Walter.
Nathalie Emmanuel's striking beauty was first seen when she played Missandre, the Khaleesi's lady-in-waiting in "Game of Thrones." She is a British actress, but her Evie was an American, and a woke one at that. She actually had a good chemistry with Thomas Doherty, who smoldered as the mesmerizing English aristocrat Walter. The revelations in the last thirty minutes will further explain why Doherty had to play him that way.
This movie was only a little over 1-1/2 hours long, yet the first hour played like a gothic romance only. Aside from the creepy haunted house atmosphere and maids encountering shadowy attackers in the night, there was not much horror happening yet. There were just a series of scenes of Evie meeting various people at parties. If you had not seen the trailer or read the reviews, you may have no idea about what's coming up next.
In contrast with the languidly-paced first hour, the last thirty minutes rushed things up to reveal what the whole film was really all about. The shocking announcement Walter made at the masquerade dinner will come as a big surprise to those as unsuspecting as Evie was. The real reason Evie was there was actually an interesting twist, but nothing in the first hour prepared us for the fiery Grand-Guignol style climactic fight scenes. 5/10.
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