A House on the Bayou

Evil comes in all shapes and sizes in this compelling morality tale from the bayou.

A woman tries to save her marriage and family with a weekend trip after she finds out he's having an affair. She takes him to a remote estate in rural Louisiana so that they can all get closer. When he forgets to get a questionably available and politically incorrect form of meat for dinner, she finds hell on earth.

The story is a convoluted mix of supernatural, domestic pot boiler and mystery. It's scary and weird fun, with an odd combination of good and terrible acting.

I enjoyed the strangeness of it.

Jessica (Angela Sarafyan) confronts her husband John Chambers (Paul Schneider) with evidence of his affair. He promises to end the affair and the couple takes their daughter Anna (Lia McHugh) to a vacation in the bayou. They had rented a mansion. They get invited to dinner with Isaac (Jacob Lofland) and Grandpappy (Doug Van Liew).

I like this movie. I like the revelations. I like Jessica. John surprised me in a good way although Schneider does over-act after the revelations. It seems like he's trying to earn his villainy. Anna is a weak dope. I get that she's a sheltered teen character but she would be more intriguing if she's smarter than that. Isaac is the best. He never stops being creepy but one can see that some teen girls would fall for that. More can be done with the room. That may be an issue with the budget or imagination. If budget is the case, I would show as little of the room as possible. Don't show John inside the room. All in all, I like the twists and turns and the movie's general creepiness.

I actually really enjoyed this. It has it's cheesy moments and some ridiculous overacting but it has a charm to it. The plot twists may get a bit out of hand but Jacob Lofland (who should be in a Children Of The Corn movie) is menacing enough to keep things ticking over. One of Blumhouses better recent efforts.

I happened to love Hemlock Grove's Season One and I loved and still love It Follows. A House on the Bayou is my favorite kind of horror. Like Hemlock Grove and It Follows, it's mostly unpredictable, it's strange, initially situations seem to escalate out of nowhere but they do go somewhere, there's a dark enigmatic character (Jacob Lofland) and there's a moral lesson at the core of the story. The dialogue is weird at times (Every time someone said Grandpappy, I laughed out loud because it's not 1930 and ridiculous Hollywood writers are so out of touch with the South. No one talks like that in the 21st Century). You don't know what the hell is going on most of the time because just when you think the script is going left, it goes right. And I loved the unsettling tone. I loved the cast. Jacob Lofland's Issac was my favorite. I couldn't stand the daughter. The moralistic message, script, acting, score, tone and direction complemented each other. There's never a dull moment and the runtime flew by. I enjoyed getting lost in this movie's strange Louisiana country mansion and its equally eerie parish.

Interesting little horror thriller, about the BAD things people do to each other. I found Isaac very unnerving and a bit charming at the same time. This feels like an old school style horror movie, like Burnt Offerings or The Other (both 70's gothic horror) I found it overall kinda satisfying except for Toby?? :( That bothers me ALOT.

If you like old school gothic horror, then you may well enjoy letting Isaac and Grandpappy take you for a ride in their beat-up ol truck. :O. Not gonna win any Oscars but it's creepy and unnerving and half way decent acting. I found the Mom's acting to be the worst of all but still worth a watch, if you can get past her robotic emotions.