A bizarre mystery thriller (maybe?), Paradise Hills is an incoherent mess. The story follows a group of young women who are sent to a therapy resort but soon become suspicious of the “therapy” and begin to plan an escape. Featuring Emma Roberts, Eiza González, and Milla Jovovich, the cast isn’t too bad; though their performances are a bit wanting. And the plot is hard to follow, setting itself in a dystopian future or alternate reality, mixing sci-fi and fantasy. Still, the set and costume designs are rather interesting and makes for a number of visually stunning scenes. Somewhere in all of this there’s a message about conformity and power structures, but it’s muddled. Paradise Hills is just a poorly made film that puts too much emphasis on artistic style and not enough on storytelling.

So what did this film do well? Hmmm...I guess it managed to build some sense of mystery throughout the first half. Then it went quite off the rails, which could have worked if there was any background provided or world built (beyond the aesthetic of the setting). There are a lot of things just tossed at you with no explanation and you're just supposed to go with it. If not for Emma Roberts and Awkwafina giving interesting performances, I'd likely have checked out early in the film. This is, unfortunately, a messy (but beautiful) wreck of a story that will likely frustrate most.

This was a beautiful mess...the story was a mess ...the design and production were beautiful. I liked the Stepford Wives premise behind the story but it was just executed so badly. Please studios...its about story story story first...no one wants a turd sandwich with sprinkles on .......the story must come first and the style should always be an afterthought.

I wanted to like this and the synopsis sounded interesting, but somewhere along the way it just fell apart. Too many things were left unexplained and left the viewer wondering what was going on

The whole time I was hoping for something to happened. But nothing really happened. So I was pretty annoyed at the end. Not recommended.