Doom House

Doom House is one of those films that you watch and stare at in awe. It's frank look at the human condition through the eyes of what appears to be just an ordinary average guy, who as the film progresses turns out to be the equivalent of a kind of sublime mid-western Zen Master who's travels serve to teach him not only about the House and it's importance to him, but to all of humanity.

The film is Richard Kyanka's debut on DVD, though he has produced some quality digital media, most notably the interactive experience titled "Dance Dance Karnov" chronicling one Italian sous chef's quest for self discovery while shopping for hats.

Like "Karnov", Doom House is a philosophical masterpiece, challenging one's perception of truth at the most fundamental level. Does Kant actually bring together the whole of western philosophical thought? Doom House won't tell you, but it will tell you why it doesn't matter and make you wonder if Kant actually meant all those things he wrote about morality.

Definitely a film to watch for any fan of thought provoking cinema.

Reginald P. Linux is coping with the death of his beloved wife, so he decides to move to surburbia and start a new life in his new home. However, a dark and sinister force is stalking Reginald, and only he and a wacky but lovable cop can stop the evil that threatens not only Regiald's life, but the entire world.

Doom House represents the best of low-budget horror. With its use of hand-held video, it is able to achieve the feeling that you are standing along side Reginald. The SFX, though cheap, convey the dark and brooding atmosphere unlike any film I have seen before or since. And the twist ending is one of the best out there.

Though weighing in at a lite 15 minutes (the 240-minute Director's Cut is planned for release in 2007), Doom House packs enough punch to make it one of the best horror films of the last 25 years, if not one of the best ever.

Psychological terror has never been easy to convey on film and only a elect few actors are able to visualise this through their actions and voice-words, Richard Kyanka is one of these. A performance reminiscent of James Caan in Misery or J.T. Walsh in any of the films he done.

The other leading role is played by the equally proficient Kevin Bowen. Playing a suspicious police officer that immediately asserts himself as a character that should not be taken at face value. You will see flashes of arrogant genius as pure as any seen in Tom Berenger's Sniper trilogy.

Technically this movie isn't going to win many prizes, but the prizes it does win will probably be deserved.

The first five minutes of this film were like being the cue ball on a pool table that never worked and had been sitting in someone's basement for the last 15 years. Utterly amazing. Just watching the title text drool down the screen was an experience I'll never forget.

Following the opening sequence is film-making that would make the best David Lynch look like James Brown. It's a very lucid experience; for a second you forget you're watching Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka making magic in front of the camera, and it almost feels like you're floating down the Nile on a raft made of the best directors of the last 20 years lashed together and stuffed full of mud (so their orifices don't fill up with water).

This is a brilliant piece of work that will not be forgotten.

It astonishes me how well this short film (much-anticipated in the Appleton film circuit) was able to deliver the fresh goods. "Doom House" is able to simultaneously shock the viewer with breathtaking cinematography, while at the same time forcing them into the world of Reginald (Kyanka). It is usually the case that a film's director will be caught up in creative eccentricities, and so, overplay one aspect of production, and fail to take care with another: the 'style vs. substance' effect, if you will. But this film certainly doesn't fall prey to that, as every single shot sings out the same, poignant message: and neither does its well-roundedness make it mediocre.

The only drawback is that Mr. Kyanka anticipates the sequel by putting on a performance that is reminiscent of Guy Pearce.