Overall, the pacing and characters are where House suffers. The film works as a direct-to-DVD horror movie, but it definitely has its rocky moments.
House (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:13
Fresh:0
Rotten:13
Average Rating:2.8/10
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for some violence and terror.
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:Nov 7, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $530,328
Synopsis: Christian thriller writers Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti make a bid for mainstream success with the film adaptation of their hit supernatural novel, HOUSE. The film follows Jack (Reynaldo Rosales)... Christian thriller writers Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti make a bid for mainstream success with the film adaptation of their hit supernatural novel, HOUSE. The film follows Jack (Reynaldo Rosales) and Stephanie Singleton (Heidi Dippold), a self-absorbed couple who get sidetracked on their way to a counseling session. After blowing out their tires, they find their way to the Wayside Inn, a ramshackle B&B where they meet an equally self-obsessed couple, Randy (J.P. Davis) and Leslie (JulieAnn Emery, THE RICHES). The foursome quickly find themselves terrorized by a household of ghoulish servants and a masked lunatic, known as the Tin Man, who demands a dead body by sunrise. As they search for a means of escape, they are each confronted with the sins of their past. Audiences may feel that they wandered through a hell house by way of an Agatha Christie novel, but this morality tale is not without its charms. The visuals are striking, and the special effects are inventive. The supporting cast gleefully chews the scenery, and a decidedly grizzled Michael Madsen adds some cult cache to the mix. HOUSE may be a bit too tame for the veteran horror aficionado, but it is sure to find a following among people of faith, and for those moviegoers who like their thrills and chills without all the blood and gore that accompanies most horror films. [More]
Starring: Michael Madsen, Bill Moseley, Allana Bale, J.P. Davis
Starring: Michael Madsen, Bill Moseley, Allana Bale, J.P. Davis, Leslie Easterbrook, JulieAnn Emery
Director: Robby Henson
Director: Robby Henson
Screenwriter: Rob Green
Producer: Joe Goodman, Bobby Neutz, Michael Webber, Ralph Winter
Composer: David E. Russo
Studio: BiggerEpic
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Reviews for House
Like most movies where belief makes up a good percentage of the narrative rationale and resolution, House has a very hard time with its dogma.
The cluttered, unconvincing dialogue -- not to mention Moseley's ongoing penchant for crazed overacting -- make it more of a genre curiousity than anything the Fangoria gang would likely want to sit through.
I walked into the movie expecting to give it one star, or lower. Instead, it was just mediocre.
Thankfully, the villains...keep things entertaining when they're on-screen, but too often take a backseat to tediously obvious flashback sequences.
The backstories keep piling up, with nods to The Shining, The Ring, and a dozen other gothic supernatural chillers, yet the result doesn't remotely scare you -- rather, it keeps explaining why you should be scared. That's why we're not.
To say that mush-minded incompetence runs wild here would be to insult mush-minded incompetence everywhere.
House wears its religion on its sleeve-and like the pushiest Jehovah's Witnesses, it's going to try and convert you to its cause come hell or high water.
Calling Extreme Makeover: HE. Your intervention is sorely needed at this disastrous would-be horror movie...from the same folks who gave you the awful Thr3e.
The film doesn't achieve the horror or creep factor it could have%u2014or that the trailer seems to promise%u2014mainly because of strange stylistic choices.
Unsurprisingly, House fails to supply a sufficient level of fright; the picture seems content to wallow in confusion and convention, removing the novelty of faith to roll around in tired terror clichés and dreadful direction.
Completing Roadside Attractions' HOUSE was physically draining, which is something a viewer should never have to endure when in theaters. The adaptation of the novel by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker is preachy, whiney and painfully cliché.
Latest News for House
October 12, 2008:
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