Glasshouse Review

4 star whimsical dystopian sci-fi thriller.

Glasshouse is a South African science fiction film written by Emma Lungiswa De Wet and Kelsey Egan, who also directs this impressive feature debut.

It is available in the UK on Digital Platforms courtesy of Signature Entertainment.

“Animals aren’t boring like forgetters. There might be some left, when Luca comes back he can tell us. Maybe he’s seen a sheep.”

Glasshouse is set in a dystopian future in which the world is ravaged by yet another pandemic, the scene nicely set by a magazine cover which lists Covid-19 as a previous threat. This time around, the culprit is “The Shred”, a terrible disease which has a similar effect on humans to dementia, stripping them of memory, even of their own names.

Mother (Adrienne Pearce –  Bhai’s Café, Afterlife of the Party) has found sanctuary in a Victorian conservatory, the windows sealed with glue and enough plants inside to provide breathable air for her small family. She lives here with her three young girls, Daisy (Kitty Harris), Evie (Anja Taljaard – Hidden Within, Redeeming Love) and Bee (Jessica Alexander – A Banquet, Get Even), as well as Gabe (Brent Vermeulen – The Harvesters), a young boy touched by The Shred.

Their life is governed by a series of rituals, the most disturbing of which being the shooting dead of anyone who approaches their sanctuary. The resulting bodies are then processed, eaten and the remains used to fertilize the crops. Wearing bonnets converted into face masks, they take it in turns to carry out guard duty.

Everything changes when one day, Bee shoots a stranger (Hilton Pelser – The Kissing Booth) but only wounds him. She brings him into the glasshouse and the others are reluctantly forced to nurse him back to health, but what are his intentions?

“Here we are safe. Vigilance is our strength, ritual our shield.”

Glasshouse is a very well thought out film and an interesting idea for a story. The location feels as though it could be anywhere and this feeling of otherworldliness adds to the atmosphere brilliantly. You truly feel for these people who cannot even be sure of their own identities and memories outside of what they are told.

There’s no action, it’s not that kind of sci-fi, instead there’s a building sense of dread and a very real feeling of connection to the world in which we have all been forced to live over the last couple of years.

Beautifully written and very timely, this film is well worth a watch.

“What you’ve built here doesn’t exist out there. Having people, a place. I’ve been looking for a long time. I feel like something drew me here.”

Signature Entertainment presents Glasshouse on Digital Platforms 7th February