Bo Mirhosseni’s dystopian horror drama opens with a onscreen text explainer, detailing how in the year 2045 the US became the North American Federation, a fascist state patrolled by roving militia in the name of God and country. There must’ve been some debate among the film-makers over how far into the future the ominous date should be but the vision of the US presented in History of Evil doesn’t feel two decades away. In the film’s first scene, a child is transported in a van through a checkpoint with a tracking device on her ankle, which is inspected by armed men. It’s horrific of course, but the bar is different for dystopian fiction in 2024. The US, after all, was cramming migrant children into freezing, overcrowded cages to sleep on concrete floors five years ago.
The child in question is Daria (Murphee Bloom), daughter of Alegre (Jackie Cruz), a subversive author on the run with her husband Ron (Paul Wesley), who is able to pass as a God-fearing good ol’ boy. The family end up hiding out in a picturesque colonial-era house – white clapboard, raised porch, the whole bit – but the house turns out to have a dark past and is keen to get its claws into Ron. Perhaps the biggest danger to the family will come from within, after all.
The concept of blending Hunger Games-style world-building with a plot that wouldn’t be out of place in a Stephen King story is an intriguing one. As Ron enjoys fireside chats over a whiskey with a mysterious old guy who says “don’t let your wife make you less of a man; they’re good at doing that”, the ghosts of The Shining are summoned, and we start bracing for an exciting showdown. Unfortunately, the dystopian thriller and the haunted house horror elements never quite mesh; the film ambles where you want it to sprint, and can’t quite get its teeth all the way into either genre.
• History of Evil is released on 23 February on Shudder.
