A group of young women must band together to escape from a seemingly idyllic island that holds a sinister secret.

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So much for paradise 🌅

I stumbled upon an unseen movie that caught my eye on New Year's Eve. Paradise Hills stars Emma Roberts (from American Horror Story) and Milla Jovovich (from Resident Evil). The poster artwork looked awesome to me and the largely female cast meant that @flowerbaby would surely enjoy this movie with me. Of course, my girl ended up falling asleep about 20 minutes into the movie, but I couldn't stop watching it and ended up loving the story, characters, and environment a lot.

Paradise Hills is a school for young ladies that focuses on readying them for their true life purpose. This school is located on a private island in the middle of the ocean on a breathtaking property. The mentality at this place is to find something positive about even the most negative of things. As said in the movie, thorn bushes have roses and not the other way around.

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The only way to get on this island is to pay a very high premium. Some things come as gifts though, meaning you could wake up there one morning like Emma Robert's character Uma did. Girls who arrive at Paradise Hills are usually trying to be shaped into a particular person by their family. In this case, Uma is being told by her mother that she must marry into a rich family.

Uma of course refuses to do that and has zero desire to be on Paradise Hills. Sure things are beautiful and life is easy there, but it just seems too good to be true. Uma and the other girls sense something is wrong, although they just can't figure out exactly what it is right away.

I am not exaggerating one bit when I say the filming location and set designs for this movie are some of the best I've ever seen. Paradise Hills is a stunning place to behold. Each time a new scene begins, I can't help but analyze all my surroundings. One set of stairs for instance gave me some serious Halo-like area shooter vibes.

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Uma meets a group of other girls she befriends. We are introduced to the overweight Chloe (Danielle Macdonald), hilariously anxious Yu (Awkwafina), and the beautiful Amarna (Eiza González). The shared bedroom is one that many would be jealous of. Each bed is has a cozy canopy with a soothing night light. Don't let me forget to mention that the room is open to the wonders of nature and there is an ideal warm climate outside.

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The overly positive person in charge of Paradise Hills is The Duchess (Milla Jovovich) who remains mysterious and volatile throughout the film. For instance, she spends much of her free time clipping thorns off of roses. Who does that? You just know can't help but know there is something up with her right from the start.

One thing I found to be pretty comical is that each girl has the perfect meals prepared for them. The cooking staff takes into consideration the exact genetic makeup of every single girl individually. The goal is to find the optimum diet for maximum cognitive functions and healthy life. Some of the girls aren't at all happy with what they get stuck eating. If it were me, I'd be more than happy to know what would be the perfect things to put in my body. I have tried so many different diets and I still have no clue what my body likes best. There needs to be an app to figure this kind of thing out #futuregoals.

We begin to see clear proof that Paradise Hills is up to something with these goals. The true motive isn't revealed still, but it's clear there is some manipulation and programming happening. For instance, repetition of music is used to create a hypnosis-like effect. This idea made me think about how games like Call of Duty play the same menu music non-stop. I think that this surely is a way to get gamers more addicted to the game.

One of the creepiest tactics used by the Paradise Hills staff is the singular merry-go-round horse that the girls get locked on. They have no choice but to sit and endure the hypnotic videos of their past life experiences. Sometimes legit propaganda is pumped into their immediate feed for long periods of time. This type of trauma is sure to leave a lasting impact on already vulnerable girls.

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This futuristic or alternate reality world that Paradise Hills is set in has its definitions for society. It is pretty simple. People are divided into two sectors, Uppers and Lowers. This translates to upper and lower class, there is no longer a middle class. That means if you aren't rich you are poor and vice versa. The glamor and exotic nature of Paradise Hills are geared towards the Uppers and the price tag to get in is what makes that even more clear.

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Uma's father was the creator of a cool piece of outdated technology called memory lockets. These are necklaces that instead of holding a picture, beam up a looping hologram of a real memory. Her father was financially ruined by a hostile takeover of his family business and this is what leads her family to slip from the Upper status and head towards being Lowers. Hence, also why her mother insists that she marries into a rich family.

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One of the main characters named Amarna is actually a famous pop star in her regular life outside the island. She has a particular fondness for Uma right from the start. This wouldn't be a female power movie without some hot girl-on-girl action. Hollywood seems to love to push this narrative. It doesn't bother me, but it is odd how what was formerly taboo sexuality is now being pushed so heavily. I agree that everyone should be able to live their life however they choose. At this point, it pretty much feels like the industry is encouraging people to pursue same-sex relationships over traditional ones since they can't actually lead to reproduction.

Watching this film go from pristine to eerie is pretty enjoyable. At first, I was thinking a life like this wouldn't be so bad at all. Then more and more things kept happening that made me reconsider the perfection of Paradise Hills. Even though I knew something was up, I was not prepared for the surprises that were revealed in the later parts of the movie.

The girls discover that Paradise Hills has a way of remaking every girl through close observation and dissecting details of their most important memories. The tech used is much more advanced than I was expecting to see, although I should have known thanks to the floating car shown at one point in the movie.

I won't go into detail about exactly how Paradise Hills guarantees success with their treatment, but it definitely works. The price wouldn't be so astronomical if they didn't get results. The mummies worked hard underground while the girls ate cake and picked flowers. That is the last hint that I will give you about what is really going on.

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A nasty little thorn in mothers side 🥀

I've talked about quite a lot that happens in Paradise Hills, but I have by no means explained everything. The best parts of this movie are how it looks. This means that you absolutely must watch it to get the full picture of why I loved this one so much.

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I watched Paradise Hills on Netflix, but surely you can find it elsewhere if you don't have that app. I think this one is definitely worth viewing. Pretty much all women will probably love it and creative men surely will too. This is an ideal film to surprise your girlfriend or wife with. I hope that you will take the time to seek this film out. Please just don't ship your lady to Paradise Hills, no matter how badly she behaves.

Watch the trailer 👀