A family is terrorised by an evil presence in their new home, built on the site of a medieval prison.
Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Jeffrey Scott Collins
Starring: Tamzin Merchant, Edmund Kingsley, Whoopie van Raam
Stop me if you've heard this one before: a struggling writer hopes to get his mojo back when he moves his family into a secluded property that, unfortunately for all involved, happens to be haunted. The Caged may not boast the most novel setup, but writer/director Jeffrey Scott Collins' film has a cheeky self-awareness, often using recognisable tropes as a clever distraction method. We know exactly what sort of horror movie we're watching here, but much of the fun comes from seeing the hapless protagonists fail to realise they're in a horror movie.
Set in 1988, The Caged is inspired by a real building - The Cage in the Essex town of St Osyth. During the infamous witch trials of 1582, The Cage was used as a holding cell for women accused of practicing witchcraft. In 1908 the building was decommissioned as a lockup and has since become a residential property. Over the last century numerous tenants have reported supernatural phenomena, which some attribute to the restless spirit of Ursula Kemp, a midwife tried for witchcraft.
The Caged sees Robert (Edmund Kingsley), a recovering alcoholic and struggling author of crime fiction, move to the former lockup with his wife Emily (Tamzin Merchant), his young son Liam (Callen Carter, whose wardrobe alternates between a Chucky outfit and a vintage Spurs jersey, so he's okay in my book) and his moody teenage stepdaughter Isabella (Raffiella Chapman). Their new home is a stunner, a classic case of "how did we get it for such a great price?"
The new tenants gradually realise why The Cage was such a bargain. It starts innocuously enough, with random bits of pottery appearing in the house. But then anyone who sets foot in the home starts to die in what appear to be freak accidents. When the inquisitive Robert pops down to the local library to do some research into his new home, he learns the awful truth. It seems Ursula is out for revenge!
The Caged leans into its fair share of horror clichés, from the writer's block afflicted protagonist to a pub where all the locals freeze at mere mention of their town's notorious property. But it always feels like the movie is knowingly embracing such clichés rather than being wilfully ignorant of them. In this era of horror movies that often seem embarrassed to be considered horror movies, this is one that happily revels in schlock. It has the spirit of the horror movies that were released in the more innocent era of its setting, and it openly nods to a few (the climax goes full Evil Dead).
There are points where Collins cannily uses our genre familiarity against us, setting up shots in a way that leads us to expect one type of scare, only to deliver something altogether different. Megan Gill's razor sharp editing an some speaker-busting sound design creates some popcorn-spilling jump scares, and I appreciated the Omen-esque ironic montages of the central family enjoying some quality time in their new setting, backed by some forgotten '80s indie bangers.
It's Kingsley's excellent performance that anchors the whole endeavour. His Robert is a neurotic bag of wounded male pride and ineptitude. There is something very recognisable in Robert's reluctance to admit that he's made a bad investment - we've all bought that one piece of clothing that we think looks great until one of our friends sits us down and tells us it makes us look like a buffoon, but poor old Rob has been sold an even bigger dud in one of England's most haunted houses. Every time Rob tells his family a white lie, we cringe knowing it's going to come back and bite him on the ass.
The Caged is unlikely to provoke post-screening discourse on the level of Obsession or Backrooms, but its autumnal atmosphere and playing around with horror tropes will keep horror fans sufficiently amused throughout its run time.
