I recently had the opportunity to watch the film White Settlers. In short, up until the what-the-fuck? ending, it's actually an entertaining - if not terribly original - movie.
The premise is one we've seen before: an unsuspecting couple moves to a new place, but - as time goes by - soon finds that all is not well in their new home for one reason or another.
That's basically we have in White Settlers, except there's less of a slow build-up of suspense because everything happens their first night in the house. But I digress.
I initially had a tough time just figuring out if I was watching the right movie. I streamed it via Netflix on my tablet, and when I saw the advert for it, I clicked on it. However, it took me to more detailed information on a film called The Blood Lands, with a picture of a guy wearing a stupid pig mask. I hit the "Back" button and was taken to the page for White Settlers. I clicked the advert again; I got The Blood Lands. I did this one or two more times before I realized that the two were the same bloody movie. Apparently, it was released under more than one name. (For the record, I've seen this before. I saw a movie maybe six months back called Into the Grizzly Maze, which had apparently been released under like half-a-dozen titles.)
Anyway, I finally got my arms around the White Settlers/Blood Lands gaffe, and started watching the film. The young couple in the movie were moving from London (I think) to Scotland. First night in, the wife starts hearing strange noises outside, finds exterior doors unlocked (and standing open) and at one point - while she and her husband are upstairs in bed - hears people moving around downstairs.
Her husband pooh-poohs her fears, but after a while it starts to grate on his nerves.
Needless to say, the wife is eventually proven right, as their home is invaded by a bunch of thugs wearing pig masks. There follows a bunch of hiding, chasing, and son on, but eventually the husband and wife are captured. They are then tied up and have bags placed over their heads. Ordinarily in a horror movie, this is the point where you expect guts to spill and heads to roll. That doesn't happen, my friend. Instead, our hero and heroine, still bound and bagged, awaken in what looks like a park area on a busy street. Apparently, they were simply taken back to London. (And in another scene, seemingly at the same time, there's a large family gathering at the house they bought in Scotland. The End.
Basically, I didn't know what to make of the ending. I had to peck around until I found out that basically it was a political message, telling the English to stay out of Scotland. (To quote Mel Gibson, "Scotland is free!") So, a horror movie with a political subtext. You don't come across that every day.
Thankfully, the film wasn't that bad. However, I mostly watched because the female lead was played by Pollyanna McIntosh. I loved her in Let Us Prey, because her character in that movie was completely bad-ass and I felt she brought a certain amount of fire to the role. (It's too bad that the ending in Let Us Prey doesn't lend itself to a sequel, because I wouldn't mind seeing McIntosh's character again.)
Anyway, the main problem with White Settlers, as you might say, was the ending. Maybe it's obvious to people in the UK, but I think the meaning will get lost on a broader audience. (I was certainly in the dark about what was going on, and rewound the film because I was certain that I had missed something crucial that would explain everything. Didn't happen. I was clueless, as I said, until I did some research and found out what the ending was supposed to convey - although it didn't even do that in a straight-forward manner.)
In short, the film just left me with way too many questions at the end, and that's the last thing you want in a movie. We go to the movies for escapism most times - not to be forced to put on our thinking caps and figure a bunch of shit out. Or maybe I just wasn't the audience this film was intended for (which, oddly enough, seems more and more likely the more I think about it).
