Paradise Hills

Paradise Hills (2019) is Alice Waddington's sci-fi fantasy thriller, available to watch online on iFILM. Wealthy families ship their defiant daughters to a remote island spa that promises to send them back gentle, graceful and obedient.

Emma Roberts stars as Uma, who wakes in a flawless white suite after refusing the marriage her family arranged. Milla Jovovich runs the place as the Duchess, all porcelain calm and quiet menace. Uma falls in with a pop singer played by Awkwafina and a roommate named Yu, played by Eiza González. The pastel gardens and breathing exercises look like therapy. They are not. Something far colder waits under the manicured hedges.

This is Waddington's feature debut, and it leans hard on its look: baroque gowns, candy-colored sets, a dystopia staged like a dark fairy tale. The plotting gets thin in spots, yet the design and the cast keep it watchable, and the message about who gets to control young women lands clearly. Worth it for the visuals over the twists. Stream Paradise Hills (2019) online on iFILM.