Locked In, not sure it’s a horror story

Locked In is confused about what it is. Is it a horror story? Not really, unless you count some gruesome nightmares. Is it a murder mystery? Well, there are murders but nobody is trying to solve them to find the killer. Maybe it’s a Goth thriller complete with creepy mansions and rainy gloom. Or maybe it just isn’t clear what’s going on.

Locked In comes from a medical term meaning a person is mentally all there but unable to move or communicate. In this story, the locked in character is Katherine (Famke Janssen). Katherine was once a famous movie star. She married a rich guy. When he died he left his house to his son, Jamie (Finn Cole). Katherine was still able to stay there, however. Jamie was a sickly child who had frequent seizures.

Katherine adopted her friend’s daughter Lina (Rose Williams). The three of them lived in a large mansion on a remote wooded estate. They had no car. Katherine went everywhere by horseback. Lina took care of Jamie all through his childhood and when he was old enough the two of them got married.

One person had a car. Dr. Lawrence (Alex Hassell) visited often to care for Jamie.

All these characters wanted the big house for their own. There were plots and counter plots afoot to murder or eliminate the competition for ownership of the house. One such plot caused the accident that put Katherine in a locked in state in the local hospital.

Nurse Mackenzie (Anna Friel) cared for Katherine in the hospital. She taught her how to spell words by blinking. You might think that would lead to Katherine telling all, but there is no narrator in this story who can be relied upon. Unreliable narrators, yes indeed.

Nurse Mackenzie got some info from Katherine and tried to alert the police to what had been going on out in the woods at the lonely mansion. It lead to a big climax when nothing much happened except an unclear ending.

The film was directed by Nour Wazzi. She created atmosphere galore in the film, but the story was not strong. It’s streaming on Netflix if you want to take a look and disagree with my opinion in the comments below.