The House on Pine Street

While I'm no movie expert, I am a horror fan and not easily scared. Sadly, there's so long between a horror movie which really delivers, but this one did rather well I thought. What makes it all the more joyful, is the lack of reliance on special effects. It's well paced and uses the art of suggestion rather than cheep jump-scares, a style I appreciate. Furthermore, I found myself sympathizing greatly with the female protagonist, another key element in a good horror movie. This movie keeps the viewer speculating and guessing until the end, which I find is the turning point of a scary movie. Nothing is more scary that the unknown, as we well know. This brings me to the only regret I have about this movie, -the ending. I won't reveal anything, but as most suspense movies, the ending leaves the viewer a bit disappointed. I for my part can forgive the movie for this, since it relates to the point above. It's the unknown which is most scary, the sum of possible explanations. As soon as the movie settles on one specific explanation, most of the suspense is diffused. Don't let this keep you from viewing the movie though. I promise, it postpones the inevitable solution as long as possible. All in all; no masterpiece, but delivers as a horror movie.

The House on Pine street should be shown to any horror movie director as an example on how to make a good movie.

It's also an example of how a good story and good direction can take a movie with a low budget and make it excellent. You don't need a lot of special effects if the story is done right.

The scares are very subtle and don't even tip you off with scary music. I love movies like that, you actually have to pay attention. The acting was well done and the story left a lot for the viewer to interpret.

If you are a person that doesn't enjoy a movie where you may have to draw your own conclusions, this movie may not be for you. If you enjoy a movie that keeps you on your toes and makes you think about it, give this one a chance.

An unsettled couple with a baby on the way move back from the city to the wife's hometown, but she dreads their new home while everyone else thinks she's crazy.

Dialogue heavy psychological ghost story with problems in script, direction, editing and pace. The stand out feature is the photography and framing of shots, where a lot of care and intelligence is on show from the start. The dialogue is often too much or just trite, and many scenes start too early or end too late, and some of the cut aways or inserts in the editing are pointless. There is a good house warming scene, lively and well observed, but that's about it.

The biggest problem is that the ghost story doesn't measure up to the psychological drama, with no drive to it - comparable to The Babadook - and the director's overuse of jump scares is feeble. And 111 mins? 20 too many.

The parts are well played, with the lead actress giving good close up and the mother and psychic showing their experience, but sometimes the actors struggled with the dialogue and the lack of motivation within the story.

The music is good but nothing outstanding.

Overall - frustrating to see so much quality serving a weak story.

I swear, some day I'm going to write a script for a horror movie where the significant other actually believes, listens to, and respects the person who is clearly being terrified by something. This movie is exhausting and frustrating.

So I can view this film differently than last night when watching it. The film is scary and I had to put the light on. Now I'm puzzled. The film has so many unanswered questions. Besides this, the characters were unrealistic and painful to watch. The pregnant main character was experiencing strange things going on. By the way everyone at the party was simply staring at her, if felt as though something darker was going on. Her constant outbursts was grating, especially when she was yelling at a toddler. Her aggression towards her guest was over the top. The way she yelled at the girls next door made her less sympathetic. And her uncaring husband was extremely dull and annoying. He also experienced weird things going on in the house but chose to say nothing. It seems to be a trend in American films lately to have so many plot holes and with unlikeable main characters.