“Unwelcome” is a film that is so bad that it’s good. You accept the ludicrousness of it, and rather than trying to understand what’s happening, you enjoy it as much as possible. There is an old Irish legend, there are leprechauns, and then there is a happy couple about to have a baby. Listening to these three aspects only, you must have imagined around four to five plotlines. And we are sure that one of these will be similar to the plot of “Unwelcome.” It is that predictable. But let’s see what we learn by digging deeper.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis – What Happens In ‘Unwelcome’?
When Jamie’s aunt Maeve dies, she leaves her house to him and his wife Maya, who is pregnant. This comes after the couple was attacked in their apartment by three drunkards. So both Jamie and Maya are glad to have found a new home. When they arrive at their new house, one of the locals, a friend of Maeve named Niamh, tells them to leave a blood offering before sunset by a small opening on the wall that separates their backyard from the woods. It also has a door that hasn’t been opened in a long time. The offering is for the Redcaps or the “Little People.” Maeve used to provide the offerings every day, but when she forgot to pay her respects and probably skipped the offering, she lost her husband and child. So Niamh tells them to follow tradition and not skip the offerings on a single day. Only later does Maya find out from Niamh that Maeve made a bargain with the Redcaps for her ailing husband. He recovered, but the Redcaps took the baby.
Jamie and Maya hire the Whelan family to help repair the damage to the roof as well as renovate the kitchen. Eoin, Killian, and Aisling, along with their father, “Daddy” Whelan, are at their service. However, all four of them are peculiar. Eoin is a pervert, Killian is a thief, and Aisling, well, is just plain disgusting, a trait she shares with Killian as well. And “Daddy” Whelan loves all three children equally. He also wants Maya to call him “daddy” too. Jamie and Maya are frustrated with their behavior but have to make do.
One day, Jamie finds that Eoin tried to kill Maya but was taken by the Little People. Are they next in line? Are they “unwelcome” in their new house?
The Confusion
This topic is not included in the plot but is a deduction from the plot. There is absolutely no relationship between the Whelans and the Redcaps. At first, it seems that the Whelans might just know something about the Redcaps or have some kind of connection to the house or the “Little People” legend, but there’s absolutely nothing. They are just a means to reveal the Redcaps and their mischievous nature as much as possible. How effective is it? Well, for the sake of the film, it is the Redcaps that provide all the entertainment. So some of us might be confused as to what the point of the Whelans is in the plot considering how they were depicted, which does point towards an underlying motive on their part. It’s just silly.
Maya’s Fears
Maya had gotten pregnant with a man before Jamie happened. Unfortunately, the man wasn’t father-material, so she had to drop the baby. This pain makes her love for her soon-to-be-born child stronger, as well as adds to her fear of staying away and having her child taken from her. Then there is the fear of being attacked by strangers, as she tells Niamh. She and her husband have already been attacked once in their previous apartment, and she cannot afford to be scared again, especially not with a baby. Lastly, there is the fear of her baby being taken by the Redcaps, as one of them literally comes inside the house and checks on Maya’s baby bump while bringing Eoin’s head for her. However, all these fears turn futile when she approaches the Redcaps for help against the Whelans towards the end of the film.
Daddy Issues
This is another useless addition to the plot that doesn’t really make any sense unless we try to make some out of it. Whelan Senior wants Maya to call her “daddy.” Why? We do not know. Is it some kind of fetish? Maybe. Is it because of some other psychological reason? Possibly. Or maybe it is his way of dominating his targets, or rather, to feel dominant. We can be quite sure that Jamie and Maya are not their first customers, so they must have done the same thing with many other couples and families before. The issue isn’t addressed at all in any way, so we can only conjecture.
‘Unwelcome’ Ending Explained – How Do Jamie And Maya Get Rid Of The Whelans?
Frankly, the Whelans [Whelan Senior, Killian, and Aisling] would have killed Maya and Jamie after discovering Eoin’s head. It is only because Maya asks for help from the Redcaps [who can not only understand English but also speak it] that they arrive and kill the Whelans. Whelan Senior is shot in the face by Maya, whose water has already broken. She ultimately gives birth to a baby girl. But this isn’t the end. One night, as Jamie is washing his car outside with headphones on and Maya goes to the washroom, their baby is taken by the Redcaps. Maya returns to find her baby gone. She keeps calling Jamie while rushing into the woods, following her daughter’s cries. She ultimately reaches the Redcaps’ underground caves. There she finds the Redcaps worshipping Maeve’s daughter, who has now grown old. Maya recognizes her from the toy she has in her hands. It is the same toy she had in a photograph, which Maya had found in the house, and was taken when she was a kid decades ago. And Maya’s baby is placed on the ground in front of her. Why do the Redcaps need the baby? Probably to replace Maeve’s child, who has grown up and is about to die. It seems that Mother Redcap, whose soul is inside Maeve’s child, needs a new young body to survive. Maya offers herself, but Maeve’s child [Mother Redcap] finds her too old. However, when Maya kills the old lady to save her baby, the Redcaps immediately begin worshipping her. Maya returns the baby to Jamie and drinks blood from a levitating skull brought to her by the Little People, thus completing the ritual. She becomes the new Mother Redcap. This is where the film ends.
We can only imagine what will happen next. The film doesn’t show the price paid for becoming a Mother Redcap. So Maya will most probably start living in the cave, or perhaps the Redcaps will join Maya and Jamie in the house, helping them renovate the whole structure. Everything else will remain the same, including the blood-offering feast, in which Maya will join the Redcaps too from now on. We have to hand it to the actors for acting with such conviction in a film that is so ludicrous. You will surely laugh during the dramatic moments. And that’s the fun of it. “Unwelcome” doesn’t belong to the horror genre in the least and is rather stupid in a way that takes you by surprise. Now, whether you like such surprises and are in for a red-capped ride is up to you.
