“As soon as we get to this place, we’re enemies.”

Imagine a family film with vague likenesses to both ​Willy Wonka ​and the ​Goosebumps ​series, that manages to strike many chords of relevancy in a digital world… You have ​Max Winslow and the House of Secrets​.

This year’s half term movie is a spin on the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory premise reimagined for the internet age that pits a group of ‘bad’ children against each other to win a glittering prize. A High School teen movie with a dash of the Hunger Games aimed at young adults, Max Winslow and the House of Secrets is a fun if cheesy story of teamwork and beating your demons.

Tech wizard and reclusive entrepreneur Atticus Virtue (Chad Michael Murray) invites five troubled teenagers to spend the evening in his futuristic mansion to compete in a series of games. The prize? Why whoever has the most points at the end of play will win the house of course. All the kids go to the same school Atticus attended and this is his way of giving back to the local community whilst finding a protégée to mentor.

Reminiscent of older Disney films, suitable for children while retaining socially relevant messaging.

Max Winslow, recently premiering at Shriekfest 2019, stars a terrific young cast, with a production value that is stunningly rich. Visually, Olson’s film shines, and, on top of that, Jeff Wild’s writing is as smart as it is well thought out—even taking the time to answer one of my more immediate questions, like, how is this man allowed to take over an entire school’s utilities and disrupt an otherwise repetitive day?

Max Winslow And The House Of Secrets is a technology-gone-awry thriller aimed at the entire family. This leaves one of two possibilities open. First off, is that screenwriter Jeff Wild and director Sean Olson sanitized the film to the point where it lacks any sense of threat, as to not scare the children. Alternatively, they could have remembered that fairy tales were meant to show kids the darker side of life and kept the intensity at full throttle.