House of Bad

Three girls, trapped in a house. Low budget. Predictable...

That's all I thought this movie would amount to at five minutes in... but was I ever wrong!

House of Bad is a tale of three sisters that steal a load of drugs from a respective boyfriend dealer, and seek to hide out in their childhood home while the heat cools down. They haven't been hiding out long when things start to go awry...

What I thought would inevitably break down into a cheap slasher/stalker movie quietly, surprisingly evolved into a well executed practice in good filmmaking. The story involved real characters in believable situations; the dialog was great and well-executed, the use of FX was sparse as to enhance the story, rather than supplant it, and the acting was flat-out good!

The budget was low, but the execution was great. There's a very cinematic feel to the picture, and a very good, timely score that doesn't hit you over the head for effect. You get the impression that this film didn't know it was low budget or independent, so it didn't pull any punches in fit and finish.

Possibly the best part of House of Bad is the surprising turns the story takes. This film really capitalizes on nuances and the behaviors of the human psyche, and goes places most films don't. Good pacing brings you to a great climax and the little touches of plot that sneak in at the end are haunting.

More thriller than horror, better than most, and really satisfying. Well done!

Sure, you could go and spend x amount of your hard-earned dollars to go and see the most recent blockbuster playing in an overcrowded theater near you. That's your every right. But have you ever considered some of those lesser known names? Some that aren't on the Hollywood A-list? You know, one of those movies you come across on Netflix but won't watch because you don't know who made it/stars in it? You might be surprised what is out there. To which proves this little film. Shot in a mere 8 days with a budget which is a fraction of a typical blockbuster, House of Bad focuses on three siblings returning to their elderly home after one of the sisters steals a large suitcase filled with heroin from her boyfriend. Little do they know, the house that was once their childhood home, is now confronting the girls with a cruel past.

With a few eerie scenes, underlined by a great soundtrack (courtesy of Terry Huud) and several great suspense moments you could easily classify this as a thriller/mild horror. Yet the film has more to offer. The characters are well explained, with the family history as a central plot to the movie, you can find yourself caring for the characters. Director/co-writer Jim Towns clearly did a great job making this, especially considering the ridiculous small amount of time and money that was put into this.

If you get a chance to watch this, go for it. It's a great 1.36h ride.

4/5. Independent cinema. Done right.

+1 Star for some dialogue near the beginning that cracked me up

+1 Star for following the rule, don't have a shower scene without nudity

-1 Star for Gutshot woman turning into Olympic athelete...

-1 Star for the believability of the whole story and the 'ghost' crap or whatever was going on wasn't really necessary for the story at all

All in all there were some good parts. The 2nd half of the movie really bogged down a LOT turning it into just nothing special

A girl is sleeping with a guy. When he falls asleep she grabs a suitcase and leaves. She meets up with two other girls and they drive to a house. The house is familiar to them. Teig who is the girl in charge collects their cell phones and announces that they will stay there for two weeks until no one is looking for them anymore. Little by little we learn what is going on.

Teig and Sirah are sisters. Lily is their half sister. Teig was imprisoned, Sirah is a stripper and Lily is a junkie. By stealing the case full of drugs they hope to make a new life for themselves in Mexico. The house is their childhood home. As Teig gets more abusive Lily can't resist the temptation of a case full of drugs and Sirah in secret sends a text message to someone.

But there's something else going on. The girls start having visions and seeing things that occurred in the past. When Teig and Sirah were little, their mom was pregnant. At some point she admitted to her husband that the kid was someone else's. Meanwhile he was cheating on her with another woman. The husband lost it. When things went wrong with her pregnancy he offered no help. And for some reason he ended up locking little Teig in the basement. Now all that pain and suffering is coming back to haunt the girls.

House of Bad is a B action/horror thriller. It features excellent and confident direction and very good acting by the sexy girls. There's a bit of violence and nudity. The story is interesting because it combines the business of stealing the drugs and hiding with a bit of the supernatural. It does get somewhat boring as usually happens with psychological horror, especially when you confine people in a room or house for most of the movie. And the occasional shaky/floating camera-work gives this movie a cheaper look than it deserves because otherwise the movie looks good and bright. Fortunately it stays away from night and rain and the usual gimmicks for the most part. House of Bad is a success for a low budget movie.

Horrible acting, horrible plot, horrible execution. This really makes me wonder what it takes to get a film financed and distributed. From the beginning shots, where the camera was jerking all over the place, to the next shots, where the camera was panning from person to person (only afford one camera, guys?) this was a joke in cinematography. I think the guy who was shooting the hand-held camera scenes had Parkinson's, no kidding. Odd thing is that the story wasn't bad. In a real director's hands with competent actors, it might have been a good flick. Yeah, I know everybody's got to start somewhere, but this definitely was NOT the place for these girls to start.