Eli is a young boy suffering from a rare disease that causes severe allergic reactions to the outdoors, forcing him to live his life in protective gear. His parents, Rose and Paul, have taken him to Dr. Isabella Horn’s secluded medical facility, in a large, old house that has been modernized and hermetically quarantined.
Eli is initially overjoyed that the facility allows him to remove his “bubble suit”, embrace his parents, and enjoy comforts previously denied to him. His joy is short-lived, however, as he begins to experience supernatural phenomena in various parts of the house. He also begins his treatments, which are excruciatingly painful. As the supernatural encounters increase, the specters repeatedly leave him the message lie, and Eli wonders if the spirits are trying to warn him about Horn’s treatments.
Eli befriends Haley, a young girl with whom he speaks through a large window in the house’s lower level. She is the only person who believes his claims that the house is haunted, as Horn has told his parents Eli’s visions are hallucinations caused by the treatments. Haley also tells him none of the other patients Horn treated left the facility, implying that they died. With Haley’s help, Eli manages to discover the word “lie” is actually the inverted number 317, the passcode to Horn’s office. When he investigates the office, Eli finds Horn’s records of past patients, showing that all of them were killed by the third, final treatment.
Eli unsuccessfully tries to persuade his parents that the three of them should leave the facility. His father tricks him into a false state of security, then tries to drug him into unconsciousness. Hurt and confused, Eli runs away and barricades himself in Horn’s office. He finds a photograph of Horn and her assistants dressed as nuns. He also finds a hidden passageway to an underground room with a circular stone monument and religious paraphernalia.
When Horn discovers him there, she locks him in, and he experiences an allergic reaction and passes out. When he awakes, he finds he can breathe fine, and his disease was a lie. His mother, feeling guilty for deceiving Eli, comes to Eli in the hidden room, where he pretends he’s still unconscious. When she opens the gate and approaches him, he knocks her unconscious with a heavy crucifix he has removed from the wall.
Eli is a 2019 American horror film, directed by Ciarán Foy from a screenplay by David Chirchirillo, Ian Goldberg, and Richard Naing. It stars Kelly Reilly, Sadie Sink, Lili Taylor, Max Martini, and Charlie Shotwell.
The film was produced by Paramount Players, MTV Films, Intrepid Pictures and Bellevue Productions and was released on October 18, 2019, by Netflix, making it the first film from Paramount Players to not receive a theatrical release. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its performances and atmosphere, and criticism for its slow pacing and tone.
Eli (2019)
Directed by: Ciarán Foy
Starring: Kelly Reilly, Sadie Sink, Lili Taylor, Max Martini, Charlie Shotwell, Katia Gomez, Austin Foxx, Jared Bankens, Parker Lovein, Nathaniel Woolsey, Mitchell de Rubira
Screenplay by: David Chirchirillo, Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing
Production Design by: Bill Boes
Cinematography by: Jeff Cutter
Film Editing by: Jason Hellmann
Costume Design by: Terry Anderson
Set Decoration by: Andrew W. Bofinger, Angela Gail Schroeder
Art Direction by: Erick Donaldson
Music by: Bear McCreary
MPAA Rating: R for some horror violence/images.
Distributed by: Netflix
Release Date: Oçtober 18, 2019
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