[Fantasia 2023] HOME INVASION -- Experimental Horror Doc Loses Steam When It Loses Focus

Review by Sean Boelman

Grame Arnfield’s experimental video essay documentary Home Invasion debuted at this year’s Berlinale, and is now playing at Fantasia, hoping to unsettle adventurous festival-goers. Although the film starts extremely well, it quickly loses its steam when it diverts its focus from the reason many viewers were likely drawn to its premise.

Home Invasion explores the history and meaning of the doorbell, from its invention through labor movements, cinema history, and the modern online world. The movie is billed as part experimental horror film and part video essay, and while that description is accurate, it would have been much more effective if those two genres didn’t feel like such disparate parts within the movie.

The entire film is shot with a distorted iris effect, as though we are watching through a peephole or doorbell camera. Of course, much of the footage is actual doorbell cam footage — but this effect is also applied to the archive materials and the on-screen captions used in lieu of narration. It’s a stylistic approach that makes sense considering the subject matter, but may be off-putting to some. (It is also worth noting that there are some grammatical errors in the text, which reduces some of the movie’s effectiveness.)

The first third of the film is absolutely fascinating. We begin with a discussion of the invention of the first doorbell camera, before transitioning into the more modern versions that we know as Ring doorbells — as the company has such a near-monopoly on the market. Here, Arnfield asks some interesting questions about whether Ring is a hardware company or a surveillance company that watches over the world constantly like Big Brother.

For the first thirty minutes, the movie is wholly unsettling. It’s the type of minimalistic, dread-inducing film that had the potential to be this year’s Skinamarink. The score is grating (in a good way), and the ominous use of the Ring tone will send shivers down your spine. Even when the footage being presented is something innocuous, or even funny or cute, we begin to feel a voyeuristic sort of anxiety.

Unfortunately, Arnfield is unable to keep up this momentum. The middle third of the movie turns into a cinema history essay of sorts, where Arnfield explores the history of the home invasion genre in film, before the final third begins to tell the story of the Luddites using drawings. Although the thematic connection between the three sections is evident, Arnfield does not do a good enough job of weaving them together narratively.

The movie does offer an often interesting examination of the role that fear-mongering plays in our society; however, its discussion of the goods and evils of technology is much less compelling. Especially considering the fact that the film was almost entirely made within software. Eventually, the movie starts to feel like a rant more than a video essay.

Home Invasion is an intriguing video essay that will certainly make you think, but it’s not an entirely rewarding or satisfying cinematic experience. Had the film been able to keep up the undeniably eerie momentum of the first third throughout its entire runtime, it would have been great. As is, it’s a bit underwhelming.

Home Invasion screened at the 2023 Fantasia Film Festival, which runs from July 20 to August 9.

​Rating: 3/5