In the House of Flies

IN THE HOUSE OF FLIES is a neat title for an otherwise uninteresting micro-budget Canadian thriller that forgets to be thrilling. The problems with this film are manifest from the outset, as it features two of the most disinteresting characters I can remember seeing in a movie, big or small budget. They're a boring couple who get trapped in a basement and the viewer follows their story from there.

This is a slow, slow, slow film with very little in the way of incident or suspense. The main characters sit around and never try to escape. Instead they simply get dirtier and dirtier and more and more aggressive and tired. There's endless time-wasting here and no story of note, leaving the whole experience an awful bore.

Heather (Lindsay Smith) and Steve (Ryan Kotack) are in love. As they take in the day with a tour of the Niagara Falls region (while Loverboy plays over the assortment of images) they seem like they are on top of the world. And then…..

Drugged, abducted and secured in a solid concrete bunker in the middle of nowhere, Heather and Steve awaken to unfamiliarity of their new setting. Confused and disoriented and with only the smallest of windows to provide them with light, Heather and Steve soon learn that they have been captured as part of a sick diabolical imprisoner who communicates to the couple through a landline phone placed within their cell. As voiced by Henry Rollins, the voice on the other end of the phone will run the pair through challenges and rewards the duo with combinations to cases located within the cell that include items that will keep them alive. But for how long? In the House of Files was directed by Gabriel Carrer whose most notable credit prior to this entry was 2011's If a Tree Falls – a film we were hardly kind to in our review.

But In the House of Flies keeps things simple and the result in a highly recommendable psychological thriller that borrows from more familiar horror films such as Saw and 13 Sins.

We never do find out the motive behind their captors intentions. And that's a good thing. There is no backstory of how they were abused as a child or had a traumatic experience in a basement themselves leading them to a motive that is undeniably malevolent. Sometimes, people are just evil. Plain and simple. And we appreciated how In the House of Flies didn't try too hard to give us a reason why everything was occurring around our protagonists.

The confinement to the concrete bunker allowed for a considerable chilling claustrophobic feel that worked to the film's benefit and audiences will strive for air and sunlight as much as the two central characters as a result of the film's authentic setting.

If we had one thing of the not-so-kind sort to say about In the House of Flies is that it felt like it had been done before. Might not have been done better but the film didn't feel as original as we would have hoped in its attempt to rise so prominently among its peers.

Still, In the House of Files is a good film and you would not be doing yourself a disservice to your watching time allotment if you are able to seek it out and give it a shot.

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Browsing through Mr Henry Rollins' IMDb page I stumbled across this entry and (also being a Deftones fan) thought I should look into it. The premise - although not overly original - seemed interesting enough, and after reading several online reviews I figured it was worth taking a chance on. I am certainly glad I did as 'In the House of Flies' is a brilliant slow-burning thriller that proves there is plenty of life in the indie thriller/horror scene.

The idea of watching two people in a cramped room being tormented over the telephone might not scream "excitement", but the physical limitations of the script and setting are what helps drive this film. The is a no-frills story: two ordinary people are thrust into an extraordinary situation and must deal with it. It's the pieces that come together to tell this story that makes the film so effective.

The performances by the two leads are stunning - you feel every ounce of fear, helplessness, hopelessness, determination, love and exhaustion as much as you see it etch into their faces as the film progresses. You latch onto and go along with these characters despite the fact you actually have very little background on them to start with - certainly a mark of effective and strong performances. A special mention must also be made for the sinister vocal performance of Henry Rollins - this guy is pure evil at the end of a telephone line.

The set design, lighting, sound design and photography help give a gritty and claustrophobic feeling to the film and there is some absolute technical wizardry going on that makes the most of given limitations (physical space, budget) without it ever feeling like cheating. I know nothing about the technical aspects of film-making but I marvelled at some of the shots and set ups that were achieved here. Even the little details (a puff of dirt here and there, insect noises) were very much appreciated.

Such a limited story does have some minor drawbacks. The narrative was a bit "jumpy" and disjointed (eg the mechanics of 'elapsed time' sometimes made it feel like something was missing in between scenes); and the ending will certainly be divisive. I personally like the open-endedness of it but there is a bit of an "OK but what now?" factor which makes it almost impossible for me to recommend it to my (less tolerant) friends. Oh well, their loss...

Overall, if you like your thrillers with a bit of grit and a lot of character - and don't mind a slow-burning story - this will be right up your alley. To me, true (cinematic) horror has never been about stories of demons or zombies or monsters or ghosts but those of the unspeakable things one seemingly normal human can inflict upon another - 'In the House of Flies' certainly fits this bill.

Can't give a review to this because I had to turn it off after 20 minute's. The acting is horrible and from what I can tell it definitely looks like someone watched Saw.

It's a Canadian made movie so I didn't expect much, and sure enough I didn't get much.

The couple are boring with a capital B. Nothing in the way of 'captivating' personalities to stir or hold any interest much less care what happens to them.

The female lead is pretty plain in the looks department which makes it even more difficult to sit and endure this whole tedious mess.

The captives don't seem to do much other than comply so where is the thrill in a movie that claims to be a thriller.

I guess the concept is acceptable even though at this point in time it's been done to death only with a little more pizzaz than what this has to offer.