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Actors work at a fake haunted house only to find out it's real.

DARK HOUSE aims for the always popular haunted house movie but falls way short. For starters, it takes 30 minutes to get to the house & no scares once there.

Coombs is good but the back story is lame & grinds the movie to a halt every time it's explained, which is often. The other actors are all serviceable but no one stands out. And, I'll add, a twist so cornball it needs to be explained.

It does not fall under the so bad it's good category, as it's not bad, just boring.

For Coombs fans only.

The filmmakers here have fun with their "Ghost in the Machine" type premise of an evil spirit infecting technology and using it to slaughter their victims, all in very macabre (and digitally created) ways. That's the good thing: they're clearly having a good time, giving their movie a fair bit of energy and pace and going to town with the visual effects and splatter. There's also some dark comedy thrown into this mix, and a surprise or two (there are some jump scares in this that actually work, and that's because they're NOT expected). In the end, one is likely to forget this pretty quickly, but enjoy themselves while the movie plays out.

Meghan Ory stars as Claire, who as a seven year old girl was witness to the massacre of some other children in a foster home. The perpetrator was devoutly religious and over the top, a sadistic foster mother named Mrs. Darrode (Diane Salinger). Now Claire is a teen aged drama student who learns that "house of horrors" creator / showman Walston (Jeffrey Combs, who may provide enough reason to watch for those who otherwise wouldn't bother checking this out) is setting up his latest attraction in that same house. He hires her and her fellow students to interact with his holographic creations; Claire has encouraged her peers to participate because her memories of that traumatic day are still tormenting her, and she wants closure.

I frequently throw out the word "undemanding" in some reviews, because that's pretty much what one often has to be to go with entertainment like this. Some people may find it just too ridiculous, and unbelievable, to get on board, but others will like the cool holograph characters and the grisly (if cartoon like) kill scenes. The actors adequately do what they have to do. Combs plays his part in the appropriately hammy fashion, and is the true highlight of the film. Salinger is an amusing villainess; 80s film buffs may remember her as Simone in "Pee-wee's Big Adventure". Erin Cummings ("Bitch Slap") is foxy reporter Paula, Tom Gulager (the "Feast" series) a mad scientist, R.A. Mihailoff ("Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre") one of the apparitions, and Don Stark ('That '70s Show') has a small part as a detective.

All in all, this quick and silly romp is agreeable enough to watch.

Six out of 10.

It was a nice idea, and the little twist at the end was a nice touch. However, I could not get past how morosely less than even one-dimensional the characters were, and how laughably rote, non-creative and cliché-ridden the dialogue was during this movie.

The bare outline of the story is intriguing, but the script really was terrible. The acting was either waaaaaaay overdone or shifted from being overdone to underdone and back again. Now, I can forgive such things if the proper atmosphere, suspense and effects are plausibly included. This was not the case with 'Dark House'. I am of the old school, and would rather see authentic make-up and gore effects. I cannot stand CGI effects that look worse than a Playstation 1 game. To this film's credit, it does mix both; however, the absurd CGI effects detracted from this film big-time in my mind.

Skip this one, it isn't so bad it's funny, the death and gore is very average, the 'brief nudity' (if that's your bag) is CGI, and the 'Dark House' looks just like a normal suburban house. It's not what it claims to be or what you think it might be. It's nothing special.

This movie took a good first 5 minutes then lost me completely until the last 5 minutes, so 70 of the 80 some minutes of this movie were a total waste of my time.... If I were a teen who still went for the over the top kiddy scare stuff, then I may have liked it all the way through. Oddly this movie felt like 2 different movies made into one, the first few moments and the last were one movie, the middle a totally different movie all together, if they would have taken out the middle and done something totally different than they did, I may have liked this movie a lot.

For adults who like real horror movies, not special effect no mind entertainment... I give this a 1 in 5 stars. For a teen who still scares easily and isn't much into it making sense, I give this a 3 in 5 stars.

Shot in just 18 days, Dark House looks, sounds and feels a lot better than the majority of studio horror films I see in any given year. I have a few minor quibbles (some unnecessarily unflattering / ageing lighting on the young women, plus a padded climax that softens the existing impact of a certain revelation) but overall, I've got to say this movie delivers on every expected level. Those representing Good (Claire) and Evil (Mrs. Darrode) are excellent and the actors deserve all due credit, but the standouts in supporting roles are definitely Combs, Whyte, and Cole. Each of them adds depth and texture to characters that could easily come across cardboard. Combs chews scenery, but he does it with rakish, fun-loving panache; Whyte is encumbered with costume, affectation and accoutrement, but his indisputable spirit shines through; and Cole plays the stereotypical gloomy goth girl with droll wit and intelligence.

If you enjoy old-fashioned haunted house flicks with plenty of snarky humor, unabashed boo-scares, and grand guignol gore, step into Dark House.

When a group of drama students are hired to play parts in a live action haunted house attraction, things go from fun to fatal in Dark House – a film presented at the Fangoria Frightfest.

Jeffrey Combs plays Walston Rey, a flamboyant man channeling Geoffrey Rush's character from 1999's House on Haunted Hill. Walston recruits the young actors to play roles in a house considered haunted by legend due to a 14-year-old murder spree of young children by psycho Janet Darrode. Miss Darrode also perished gruesomely in the house and the legend of her spirit haunting the home has become legendary.

Walston's intention is to have two reporters visit the house and with the use of his live actors and a sophisticated audio-video-hologram system, they will be able to project images of everything from flesh eating zombies to axe wielding clowns.

Meghan Ory plays Claire, an acting student who just so happens to have a history with the house as she was the last child to venture through its doors and exit alive. Fourteen years of therapy and bad dreams lead to her confrontation with her demons in the house when the holograms come alive and begin to diabolically kill all those trapped inside.

Dark House is filled with true scares and some of the creepiest ghost-like monsters since Thir13een Ghosts in 2001. Director Darin Scott working on his own screenplay mixes some quality scares with spooky characters and it is no surprise that the film was the winner for best feature at the Shriekfest Film Festival in 2009.

Not all the humor in Dark House works to the expected result and the film commits the new cardinal horror sin (at least amongst fans) with the overuse of CGI blood. But Dark House is able to maintain a sense of creepiness and doesn't over say its welcome coming in at a brisk 85 minutes.

Not having heard or read much about the film prior to viewing, I was surprised on how much I enjoyed Dark House. The film hit just enough right notes to make me forgive the small sins (again, the CGI) and accept it as an effective horror that is worth a visit.

www.killerreviews.com

Reading some of the positive reviews that Dark House has received makes me wonder if there is something wrong with me, but then I remember: no, there is something wrong with this film.

I have always been a horror buff, so I forgive the inevitable cliché moments that are trademark to the genre. But I just found this film to be absolutely hollow. I was hoping for a fun spooky journey, but instead was served: shockingly bad acting (on some of their parts, not all), and a completely predictable, bland storyline. It felt like the equivalent of the not- funny uncle at a family reunion trying desperately to make everyone laugh; only in this case the aim was to scare.

By nature I am quite jumpy, even the sound of the toast popping out of the toaster can make me jump out of my skin. But I can honestly say I did not even flinch, and was bored to the point of comatose. I like it when horror movies look mildly makeshift or amateur, or have a grungy misguided feel, as it can make them more genuine and edgy; but this just looked like something pieced together by a bunch of pretentious film students assigned a last-minute project. Without adding any spoilers, all I can say is that the transitions, layering of footage, and the embarrassing fonts flashing up for the hologram error were like something a first- time filmmaker would put together in paint shop or movie-maker.

It's just a shame that with the advancements that have been made in the film industry, the visuals or atmosphere could not even compensate for the lack of storyline. I've seen films on much lower budgets, and made back in the day where there were no technical advantages, irrefutably better than this waste of time. I couldn't even laugh at it.

Wow, most of the time when you watch some of these horror movies you expect to see crap. Thats what I was expecting when I watched this, but amazing this was definitely a hidden gem! Fantastic horror movie, decent acting, good story and direction. I mean its not an Oscar winning movie, but for the genre, you cant ask for anything better! I would recommend this movie to any horror buff! This movie reminded me a little bit of house on haunted hill. 10 people trapped in a horror buffs 'scare house'. The movie starts with a fright, and doesn't let up until the end!

It was VERY scary and to be extra freaked out I would suggest watching this in the dark....if you dare! Enjoy this gem!

Solid sound design with good use of surround. The picture looked boring. Very unimaginative story, totally unbelievable and a bit of a mess. Barely acceptable horror film lacking anything engaging. The problem is that they don't understand why people like dark house rides so when they make a film of it they get it wrong.

If you ignore the story you can find things to enjoy. First and best is Jeffrey Combs acting a completely different character than I have ever seen. I think it's his best. Does that make it worth seeing? No, unless you are fan. Secondly, again ignore the story, and enjoy the sets and vivid colors. Yes stupid reason to watch a movie but nice to see a non-drab movie. Third, there are four great camera shots, i.e. angles etc. that would really work well with a better script.

Negatives, except for obvious, really could do without the Joe Jonas and Johnny Depp lookalikes. The Depp one even tried to act like him. The decapitation blood scene is as bad as Tokyo Gore Police (one you absolutely have to watch. The big bad evil woman's hair and acting in last scenes is more comical than scary. Terrible smarmy cops summing up the crimes, unbelievable acting of the little girl who discovers the bodies in the beginning of movie, and horrible idea of the black spooky mist flying around the room. But did like the squirrel crossing the electric lines behind the adult "little girl" in the very last scene.

Awful movie. What's worse, it's so bad you can't make much of a judgment about the cast other than how pretty they are.

The setup is basic haunted house horror. As a child, Claire entered the Darrode House, saw something terrifying, passed out and for years since has been haunted with horrifying nightmares. As a young wannabe actor, she refuses to take medications that cut her off from her feelings. Her acting class runs an exercise of no value other than to give the audience a thumbnail stereotype of each character and then we get the horror-meister who wants to setup a reality/horror type show in the old Darrode House. Claire jumps at the chance to face her fears, buttressed by a crowd of people she knows and talks them into becoming the cast for the new show.

What follows is the most ridiculous, contrived horror-schlock that has nothing to do with the setup, no rising action, just scene after scene of hellish horror with no real context.

This was so bad that I couldn't make it through the whole thing. Not frightening and not even titillating enough to put up with how horrible it is as a motion picture. About halfway through my wife and I finally gave up on it. it's so bad that were I to have gone to see it in a walk-in theater, I would have walked out.

Someone PLEASE stop Darin Scott before he writes and directs again! Or get him some classes in screen writing and directing and a decent mentor?

This was the biggest cinematic waste of time that I have encountered in a LOOOOONG time. I think the creators of this mind-numbing, crap-tastic cinematic adventure must have forgotten to take their ADD meds, because the plot was all over the place. I had to back it up 3 or 4 times just to figure out what in the heck was going on... and to make sure I was still watching the same flick. Sorry kids... you can add all of the blood and gore you want... without a plot that any reasonable person can actually follow... it's a total waste of time. The only scary thing I can think of regarding this title is the idea that people actually got paid to create it... I am a horror FANATIC, but I simply couldn't find it in me to be even remotely frightened by "Dark House". Two thumbs WAY DOWN. I'm telling you, don't waste your time...

Sometimes life opens a door for you. You have to jump through when that happens. Claire (Megan Ory), as a young child witnessed the aftermath of a horrible massacre. To progress psychologically, she needs to face her demons, but she is, of course afraid.

In an acting class, an opportunity presents itself to return to the infamous house with a small crowd along. Of course, things are not always what they seem at first.

Using holographic illusions, the Darrode House is to be turned into a horror attraction - The Dark House by Walston (Jeffrey Combs of Reanimator films).

Diane Salinger of Rest Stop fame is Ms. Darrode, the religious wacko that committed the horrible crimes, and she is fantastic.

Samantha (Meghan Maureen McDonough) just wants to hook up with the luscious blonde Ariel (Bevin Prince).

Needless to say, the house takes over and the attraction becomes real. Blood and gore to follow.

Makeup was excellent. Ending was great.

If you liked House On Haunted Hill or 13 Ghosts, you'll find this film worth the time invested.

This movie is a surprisingly good Horror story. To insure it, we have the master of terror Jeffery Combs. It tells the tale of a house wherein a caretaker has in her charge a group of impressible children. However the caretaker goes berserk and believes her tiny wards have somehow become demons and are out to dam her to hell. Before they do, she murders all of them and then commits suicide. However one of the children survives, but not without suffering a deep trauma. Her psychiatrist, tells her that in order to exorcise her demons, she must revisit the house where the gruesome murders took place. At the same time an impresario, (Jeffery Combs) seeking to create the ultimate Haunted House, leases the nightmarish resident, hires a group of actors to staff his house of horrors with state-of-the-arts holographs visual effects and to scare the daylights out of his visitors. What he fails to count on is the evil resident Ghosts and spirits which produce real life terrors of their own. What follows is a genuine blood bath and one which is guaranteed to scare the wits of any and all. What begins as a game, results in a great movie for Jeffery Combs fans. Exceptional acting and good special effects will make this film another milestone in his already impressive career. Recommended to any and all horror film addicts. ****