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There is a list of certain actions, events and scenarios every horror or suspense movie has to play out. Items on this checklist include people willingly walking into a creepy setting, a dark ultimate evil being, and two survivors. However, there needs to be more to the story than this checklist.
“House,” a Christian supernatural thriller based off of the book with the same name by Ted Dekker, is a prime example of what happens when the bare minimum of requirements are executed. Jack and Stephanie Singleton (Reynaldo Rosales and Heidi Dippold) are a troubled couple who choose to blow off a counseling session while driving down the back roads of Alabama.
After the two get into an accident, they are caught stranded in the woods, only to come upon a strange, old house. What appears to be a run-down inn quickly becomes a place of great evil, as the Singletons and two other stranded guests are locked in with a staff of psychotic hosts and a maniac Tin Man threatening to kill everyone in his house unless they produce a body by morning.
Jack and Stephanie spend the night fighting for their lives and reliving some of their worst fears and traumatic memories.
Director Robby Henson had the potential for a great horror film with Dekker’s “House.” But, he killed that potential with choppy scenes that stick together about as well as two dry pieces of bread and a complete lack of explanation for what’s happening. Watching the movie will give the audience a sense of point A and point B, but no line drawn between the two.
Henson has everything on the thriller checklist, but that’s it. The checklist is meant to be more of a guideline for the how the story could progress. It’s not meant to be the actual script. Fans of Dekker’s work will do best to stick with the book.
The scenery and special effects were the only good things to come out of this film.
“House” is rated R for some violence and terror and runs 101 minutes. Though the movie is now playing, I’d say skip it. There’s a lot to be said about a movie when the biggest conversational piece over it was whether the movie poster was inappropriate or not.
