Mahlalie's Movie Review of House (2008)

Better than I expected
Mahlalie - wrote on 11/08/08

I was very pleased with this movie. No, it is not a slasher which seems to be what is expected from the horror genre these days. Yes, you do have to think a little which few people seem to want to do these days. It is a story with a general moral to it: light defeats darkness. There was certainly no content warranting an R rating (a PG-13 would certainly have sufficed).

I have been a bit confused over the negative reviews of this film, and I think it may be because of subtleties. House contains many subtleties, and as such, may distract some people from the main plot which is as follows. Two couples and the owners (a family of three) are trapped inside a house. The villain wants one of them dead by sunrise or they all die. The two couples try to escape without killing each other. Unfortunately for them, the house has other ideas. Keep that in mind when you watch the film.

I find it interesting that Christian reviews say the movie is not preachy enough, and mainstream reviews consider the movie too preachy. The message is subtle outside of the generic good beating evil. Enjoy the movie.

House is intense, but not horrifying. It is a thriller rather than a slasher (a supernatural thriller to be precise). It is not very frightening, but does have a couple of jump scenes as well as an ever-developing plot that keeps you thinking. The acting was not horrific for a couple of reasons. For one, acting in horror films is notoriously uninspired, leaving a very low bar. Secondly, there was not really much acting, no significant dialogues or monologues. Unfortunately, there was a line or two that could have been left out as well as a scene that bore a strange resemblance to one out of E.T.

Overall, the production was very well done for a low budget film. The plot was solid if you watched with your brain turned on. What acting there was was mediocre at worst. The ending was impressive. The film was pretty intense. House was certainly a VAST improvement on Thr3e (the previous film created by the same people).