The Beach House

The reviews for this movie are incredibly inconsistent. However it seems like people are agreeing about certain aspects. Everyone seems to agree with the sentiment that the movie is a slow burn. I personally found the first half of the film to be interesting and it increasingly built tension. Others will say it was boring.

The film is also being hammered on for being mysterious and accused of offering no real explanation as to why certain things are happening. Not true, there are several scenes/conversations that offer theories and possible answers to what is happening. However, the theories are presented indirectly. I personally found the explanations interesting enough.

The climax of the film is ultimately why I recommend this movie. Around the 50 minute mark is when this film separates itself from the pack. There are 2 horrific set pieces in particular that are extremely well shot and present genuine creepy imagery.

This is a genuinely creepy low budget horror but the horror is held back by a confusing series of plot points and ideas that are never really tied together. A young couple heads to a family beach house to get away from things only to find an older couple also staying there. They get along okay until a series of strange events seems to lead to an unexplained infection that slowly progresses through the group. Things get a little trippy and the viewer faces the same struggles as the characters finding it difficult to know what is real. There are various possible sources for the infection and its unclear whether they are interconnected or unrelated. One characters explanation of her study goals seems like some Obvious exposition to educate the viewer on a possible source of the infection. The cast were fairly good and they helped to build the creepiness but the direction left things a little too confusing for real horror to build. Worth a watch but could have been better.

Did you ever see a movie that you thought was pretty good, but that was so weird and out of nowhere that you weren't really quite sure how you were supposed to process it as a viewer?

The Beach House is one of the newer additions to Shudder, and, for the most part, it's a pretty standard horror movie. It's a slow burn about a young couple that go to (you guessed it!) a beach house for a romantic vacation together, only to find an older couple also staying at the beach house. For about half of the movie, things are okay - you're just watching a flawed relationship trying to fix itself and grow - but, when things go awry, they really go out with it.

This film has an uneasy feeling throughout. It gives off a vibe of unease, as though it were preparing the viewer for what is to come. There wasn't a moment of the film that I felt I could trust any particular characters, especially once the film really started revving its engine and working toward the final act.

There are a lot of tense moments in the film, which is one thing they pulled off really well. Where it lost me was in the plot, the way it suddenly (and I do mean suddenly) begins to get a little too sci-fi for my liking in a film like this. I'll give it credit for doing something different (it easily could've been very cliched) and trying to be its own thing, but it's an instance where I feel it, perhaps, tried a little too hard to be original and ended up being off-putting as the film went on.

That being said, credit needs to be given where it's due. Everyone acting in this film did a great job. The characters were relatable and believable. And the shots in this thing are absolutely stunning as well. The aesthetic of the film is eye-catching and beautiful throughout, which made it a film that was still enjoyable despite its faults.

The Beach House's relatively short runtime is filled with a sense of impending doom. It's slow to get started, but once the infection begins the film manages to offer up enough dread to keep you locked in. Well-acted and plenty of eerie atmosphere. Overall, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It's far from perfect and suffers from a few cliches and dumb character moments. There is one particular reveal in the last block that disturbed me. I always find the scariest films revolve around body horror and what Mother Nature could have in store for us. I highly recommend watching something a little more upbeat after you finish it. The film has managed to stay on my mind the last few days.

If you're not into genre movies, this is not for you. And I am not talking about teenagers horrors films, that are filled with cheap jump scares and special effects, that actually don't work at all. This movie is for audiences that enjoy the ride of building an atmosphere, escalating this until you really are ready to its final destination. While this is not an unforgettable horror film, it will really catch your attention and makes you feel uncomfortable again and again from the beginning, where it depicts common yet weird social situations, till the climax and the conclusion of the story, with some scary dreamlike moments. Ignore the low rating given by some viewers and give to this movie a chance.