Starring Emma Roberts, Awkwafina, Eiza González and Milla Jovovich, Paradise Hills is not the kind of fantasy film that I’d shout about so that no one misses out on the experience of seeing it. Yet, I wouldn’t say that it’s a completely terrible movie either. 

Set in a mysterious boarding school with a mission to transform wayward girls so they fit their surroundings’ exact desires, it was inevitable that some of the girls were going to resist and rebel. A rebellion led by Roberts’s Uma character, because she has zero desire to marry the man her family insists that she does. 

What grabbed me immediately about director Alice Waddington’s film, besides a plot about rightful youthful rebellion, is the generally visually pleasing colours, costumes and set design. Paradise Hills has a look and theme that reminded me of Melanie Martinez’s recent K-12 (2019) music film. I like that the movie became more disturbing in a way that proved entertaining towards the end. I’m also glad for the one or two twists I didn’t see coming.

A definite downside to Waddington’s movie, however, is that something about the fantasy elements of the story and the film’s general execution didn’t quite have me fully buying into everything that was happening. This led to me not being as horrified as I perhaps should have been when the most disturbing things were happening.

I was glad about the uprising and grateful for the thrilling moments in the second half. Yet, there remained an air of  ‘this isn’t at all real,’ and that truth very probably made me less invested emotionally in all that was happening. In other words, everything I needed wasn’t there to make me fully immerse myself and get lost in the story.

With that said, watch Paradise Hills if you’re really curious.

Happy Film Loving,

G