It's been a while since i binged a series the way I did with this. I was so invested that in two sittings, I was done with all six episodes. It grabbed my attention, retained my interest, and held my curiosity to ransom.
Written & directed by Benjamin Gutsche and executively produced by Amara Palacios, this 2025 German Netflix Sci-Fi thriller series was released in February. Originally filmed in the German language, you can watch via a dubbed version.
PLOT SUMMARY
In a bid to starting life afresh, the Prills family (father, mother, son and daughter) moved into a new house which is Germany’s oldest smart house with in-built AI technology unbeknownst to them that the house holds some dark secrets from the past dating back several decades.
No sooner had they moved in than their lives were turned upside down. Their once troubled lives just got even more miserably troubled as they are then tormented by a robot that literally runs the house (more like, calls the shots).
MY THOUGHTS
What a great watch this is! I absolutely enjoyed the storyline, plot, and direction. All the actors did an incredibly believable job. Their performances were outstanding, especially the little girl who played Juno Prill (Mary Tölle).
The excellent use of flashbacks, editing with captions and the style of storytelling which seamlessly merged the backstory of the robot from the 60s and 70s to the modern day present life made it easy for viewers to follow.
Costuming, makeup, props, continuity, choreography, location, lighting, sound score, and all set the pace and tone for this psychological thriller, which made for believability.
Be that as it may, as with most movies on Netflix in recent times, I held my remote control close by especially because of later scenes with Fynn Prill (played by Joshua Kantara), the teenage son.
When I first saw him, I was drawn by his cute appearance. Turns out the makers of the story just had to stereotype his looks. They make us believe that males who look a certain way are gay. How do we get these things off our heads when all they do is literally trying to shove it down our throats?
The main part of the story, nonetheless, was irresistible, I could cope with that aspect and just fast forward each time. Moreso, the robot played a role in combating that feature in the series in a certain kind of way. Safe to say “thanks Cassandra, for that!”
Although the series started in a cliche manner of a family moving to an old abandoned house with eerie sounds quite typical of thrillers and horrors, however, the inclusion of the robot having a backstory just made this different and unique.
Interesting, educative, entertaining, intriguing, suspenseful, and captivating. Nevertheless, I do have some reservations (questions):
Who buys a house and moves their entire family to the house without first doing some checks and cleanups? If they could afford such a mansion, why couldn’t they afford to hire professional cleaners to do a deep, thorough clean? That would have saved everyone the horrific experience they were subjected to.
The film opened up to what we would later know to be a mistress & her baby being rescued after a car accident. What later became of baby Thomas? Is he the same as Steve - (Fynn’s love interest)? Well, that was me expecting a plot twist there, to be honest.
Just like Prime Video’s 2024 “Insomnia” (featuring Vicky McClure), Samira Prill, here (portrayed by Mina Tande), just had to be seen as going mental (losing her sanity). Wouldn’t it have been better to completely rid the house of the Ai assistant, which seemed to cause the problem instead of committing the mother of the home to a therapy home?
The ending felt like the writers and producers had had enough and just wanted to wrap things up. It was somewhat underwhelming in that regard for how much the story had built up. It just sort of had a weak ending. Did they run out of script? Was the ending planned from the beginning? Well, I guess we may never know now.
Please, DO NOT WATCH this with kids as it contains explicit sex scenes & references.
Notwithstanding, this was a beautiful watch. Would have been better, but I’m pleased it was enough to be enjoyed.
Thanks for stopping by.
SOKA 🖤