Remember when you were about 10 and you would play detective, convinced there was a huge mystery to be solved where you lived, well it seems our protagonist Elfie Hopkins (Jaime Winstone) never really grew out of it.
Off the bat Elfie Hopkins gives off a quaint impression. The lead drives an old fashioned car in a modern world and she dresses like a wacky hippy from the ’60s. She’s an intuitive teen taking herself a bit too seriously with her ‘investigations’. Elfie comes off as a pissed off teenager living in a boring small town, who wouldn’t be annoyed with that? The town seems like a ghastly place to live, full of pretentious and pompous sorts who go on holiday to Africa to kill endangered animals and all that. It’s no wonder why Elfie hates living there. Her mother isn’t around anymore and she has to contend with her father’s new partner. Her best friend, Parker (Aneurin Barnard), who’s seemingly the Lewis to her Morse, is the only one who seems to get Elfie, mostly because he’s in the same boat as her. They both find it okay to go around snooping around a strangers house, being all mysterious and annoying. Parker is clearly in love with Hopkins and that’s probably why he follows her so aimlessly, he probably doesn’t even care what’s going on, he’s just a horny teenager. There’s also a great, but also greatly confusing, cameo from Ray Winstone and it doesn’t really make much sense apart from he’s the lead actresses’ father and it’s great. Hopkins and Parker are suspicious about the new family next door, the Gammons, with head of the family Charlie (Rupert Evans) being “too perfect for his own good”, thus the duo take it upon themselves to get to the bottom of their creepiness.
You remember that viral video a few years ago, the town who let a little kid run around as Batman solving crimes with the police, well Elfie Hopkins feels like the film version of that. The small town our heroine lives in just seems to let her run about wildly and humouring her by answering her questions. Only her deflated father and ‘wicked’ stepmother (to be?) get annoyed with her antics. Hopkins and Parker (mostly Parker) continue to dig deeper around the new-in-town Gammon family as Elfie begins to develop a crush on the head of the family, Charlie. Elfie runs around like a silly little teenager, which is exactly what she is, while she pretends to be mature and cool. It’s a while into the film and Charlie says it perfectly with the line “I get it now” to why Elfie is how she is, but we won’t ruin it for you.
This film is fun, it really is, but there’s little to be desired when you know what’s coming. And that’s the problem with Elfie Hopkins, since the reveal and mystery around the Gammon family is ruined in the full title. The mystery builds well and Evans is especially good in his creepy role, but again, you know what’s coming and it’s a shame because it could have been a nice twist for the film if it wasn’t ruined before you even started watching.
The thing is though, despite the poor production value and mystery being ruined, you can’t help but feel it’s all just a lot of fun. I don’t know if it’s meant to be a lot of fun, but you should have a lot of fun, I know I did. Intentional or not, this is a light-hearted flick that and the end will have you loving it even more, mostly because of the unforgiving, blood-filled killing spree.
Rating: Not a great horror by any means, but good fun for a one-time watch, (5/10).
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