Hostile 2017 Wants You Think It’s a Horror Movie
Juliette is a lone survivor in an apocalypse. The Hostile movie could be classified as a psycho-thriller pretending to be a horror movie.
The Horror Movie That Cried Wolf
I love a weird, indie horror. The grittier, the better. But every now and then, a film comes along that lures you in with monsters and mayhem, only to serve you… a romance in disguise. Hostile (2017) is exactly that: a film that promises teeth, claws, and post-apocalyptic chaos, but mostly offers flashbacks, moodiness, and a love story with the emotional depth of a damp sock.
The poster? Gritty.
The trailer? Menacing.
The actual film? A long, slow burn with a horror hat tossed on top at the last minute.
Juliette and the End of the World
Juliette (played with stoic energy by Brittany Ashworth) is the last girl standing in a world gone to hell. She crashes her car in the desert and gets stuck waiting for nightfall, when the real danger creeps out of the shadows.
Sounds exciting, right? Except it’s not.
Most of the runtime is spent hopping between the present-day desert and a string of flashbacks showing her pre-apocalypse life. And when I say flashbacks, I mean a lot of them. So many that you start wondering if the world ended from sheer boredom.
Do the Monsters Come at Night? Sort Of.
Hostile teases creatures in the dark. It hints at tension. It dips a toe into horror.
But the monsters? They’re underwhelming. Javier Botet (the man behind your nightmares in [REC] and Mama) is underused. The creature design is fine, but you’ll blink and miss it. Worse still, these shadow-stalkers apparently don’t read the job description, because they sometimes wander out during the day too.
There’s no escalation, no real dread. It’s like the horror elements were added in post because someone remembered they marketed this thing as a monster flick.
This Isn’t a Horror Movie. It’s a Hot Dog Scam.
Let’s talk about false advertising. Watching Hostile felt like ordering a chili cheese hot dog and getting a plain bun with ketchup and a single tear of mustard. No spice. No heat. Just a vague echo of something better.
If I pay for horror, I expect horror. And while I’m all for genre-blending and surprise pivots, this film tries to have it both ways and ends up offering neither.
It’s not even elevated horror (It Comes At Night pulled off the bait-and-switch with finesse). This? This is mood-drenched melancholy disguised as survival horror. I wouldn’t even be mad if the film had just told the truth about what it was.
Comparisons and Character Woes
Juliette’s character reminded me of Sophie Skelton’s performance in Day of the Dead: Bloodline. Tough, detached, angry—but not much else. She’s gritty, sure, but her emotional range barely moves past pissed off or pensive.
Her entire arc is built around a tragic love story, which eventually tangles with the monster plot. I won’t spoil it (someone might actually enjoy it), but if you’re expecting momentum, forget it. The story drips instead of flows, and by the time we get to the big reveal, the punch just doesn’t land.
Final Thoughts: A Missed Opportunity Wrapped in Genre Confusion
Hostile isn’t a bad film. It’s just… misleading. If I knew I was signing up for an introspective romance drama with post-apocalyptic window dressing, I might’ve appreciated it more. But when a movie wraps itself in horror aesthetics and delivers barely enough horror to qualify for a scream, I feel duped.
There’s a lesson here for filmmakers: if you’re going to sell horror, you better deliver at least one full-body flinch. Or, at minimum, a monster that does more than lurk in the background waiting for its moment to matter.
Hostile (2017) Film Details
Rating: 2.5 “What genre is this really?” out of 5
(A mood piece in horror’s clothing.)
- Writer/Director: Mathieu Turi
- Starring: Brittany Ashworth, Grégory Fitoussi, Javier Botet
- Budget: $1.2 million
- Country of Origin: France
- Genre: Drama | Romance | Horror
- Premiered: July 2017 – Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival
- Release: March 2018 (wide), Digital/VOD from September 4, 2018
🔗 Suggested Follow-Up
Craving something that nails the apocalyptic horror vibe? Check out Glasshouse. It doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not.
Trailer for Hostile Horror Movie – Rent it on YouTube
Hostile
Director: Mathieu Turi
Date Created: 2018-03-08 12:27
2.5
