Film Review: Eli

I imagine everyone who was scared to go to the doctor as a little kid probably saw the whole experience as something pretty similar to the what Eli (Charlie Shotwell) went through in the latest Netflix horror film of the same name. The setup is that young Eli has a disease that forces him to live indoors, isolated, and with protective gear. But his days of going out in hazmat suits looks to be coming to an end as his parents, Rose (Kelly Reilly) and Paul (Max Martini), have decided to take him to a specialist, Dr. Isabella Horn (Lili Taylor), who seems to have the treatment that might allow him to finally go outside and be a normal kid.

While the treatment turns out to be far more intense than Eli may have initially realized, it isn’t just the excruciating allergic reactions, and drills to the skull that has him freaked out. Turns out the big house where all the treatment is being done may in fact be haunted. Eli starts seeing strange figures in the night, noises, and forces grabbing at him, trying to get his attention, but to what end, to hurt or to help? That’s for him to find out.

The way the plot is setup is compelling, and the characters – while fairly bland – are likable, and enough to keep you engaged. It’s a nifty twist on the haunted house genre with a few paranoid medical thriller elements added into the mix. Although, it does take a while for both of those genres to come together in a satisfying way. For the first two acts, it’s pretty much standard haunted house spookery and jump scares aplenty.

It’s a bit of a missed opportunity in that regard, but the spooks are hardly the worst or most gratuitous, execution wise. There’s a couple effective moments where something moves within the darkness that we only get a quick glimpse of. I’ve only seen Sinister 2 from director, Ciarán Foy, and this is a more compelling outing from him. He also does well with his cast, especially Shotwell, who has to navigate a lot of strange and intense emotional beats for large chunks of the film. His bond with Reilly is believable, and the suspicious tug-and-pull that goes on with Taylor is fairly engaging as the tension slowly builds. Plus, Sink shows up a couple times as a friendly face to Eli, and she brings a light charm to the heavy proceedings.

However, as generic the scares seemed to be during the big buildup, it’s in the final act where this movie becomes something else entirely. I don’t want to give away what happens, but it takes a pretty big, bold, and tonally jarring swing that I’m sure will not work for everybody, but I was here for it. It turns into something so weird and unpredictable, I had to applaud the sheer audacity of it. The entire last thirty minutes or so had me absolutely thrilled and rivetted. I had no idea where it was going, and when it finally ended, I was sad there wasn’t anymore to see. It’s like the screenwriters, David Chirchirillo, Ian Goldberg, and Richard Naing, were just saving all the good bits for last.

Unfortunately, I don’t think Eli is quite goo enough to hold up on repeat viewings. It is very much something you watch once, have some fun with it, and move on to something else, which makes it a pretty perfect Netflix viewing. It isn’t quite as strong a narrative on its own terms, it puts so much energy into hiding the secrets of its bonkers finale that it forgets to do anything interesting for first two acts. That said, it’s still perfectly watchable, and I would actually highly recommend this for that final half hour. It ain’t perfect, but you definitely can’t call it forgettable.