With its international premiere at this year’s FrightFest Glasgow, House of Ashes is a supernatural haunt which aims to highlight the plight of women living through political regimes which aim to restrict their autonomy and freedom.
Directed by Izzy Lee, House of Ashes focuses on Mia (played by Fayna Sanchez), a recently released prisoner out on parole and forcibly sporting an ankle monitor to ensure she does not leave her house. Her crime? Experiencing a miscarriage in a country where female reproductive rights are dangerously restricted. As well as coping with that trauma, Mia also has to come to terms with her husband's suspicious death. Living back in her house with her new partner Marc (Vincent Stalba), Mia begins to experience strange and disturbing phenomena which she attributes to the spirit of her late husband Adam (Mason Conrad). Mia soon comes to the realization that she is in danger, but unfortunately cannot leave her house unless she violates her parole and is sent back to prison.
Against a frightening socio-political background where the rights of those with a uterus are discarded, House of Ashes explores the dangerous situations many people find themselves in when their reproductive freedom is taken away. Facing isolation, violence and psychological abuse, the film encompasses this important message with a ghostly haunted house twist. Yet whilst the general premise and setup has the potential to be an interesting take on the horrors of having a uterus, it never feels fully developed, and in fact the message almost seems discarded at times.
Despite its strength lying in the cinematography and lighting, particularly in the utilisation of hues of blue and red-amber, creating a beautiful sense of both serenity and imminent danger symbolising the pull between her deceased husband and current partner, the raison d’etre of House of Ashes fails to really stick, and ultimately muddies any sort of potential for really driving the film’s message home.
1.5 Screams out of 5
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