House of Bones

TV ghost hunters investigate a haunted house, but unlike their previous episodes this one is for real. A former plantation home, the house is alive and has a taste for human blood! Well for a start this thankfully didn't jump on the paranormal activity found footage bandwagon, a very popular - and often annoying - sub genre at the time. Made for TV this movie is at times cheesy and a bit cheap looking, but it does also manage a few decent scares and has some good gore scenes. The acting was OK but the ending wasn't very convincing. Overall this film was an adequate watch, I have sat through many far worse ghost movies than this. Worth 86 minutes if your time.

A supposed reality show that does turn real as it progresses. Charisma Carpenter gets the lead billing and plays a sensitive. When she pulls the string of hair out of her mouth it gets a bit much. She won't leave the house because she says she is the only one that can help. The rest of the crew are pretty much unbelievers in the super natural based on their past shows. When they encounter an actually super natural occurrence they start to freak out. Corin Nemec is the shows star, is an egotistical pretty boy who thinks he is the cats meow, and shows up late for the filming and actually plays kind of a bit part. Marcus Lee Brown is the technical guy. The crew wants to bail on the project but the producer won't let them if they want to stay employed. The cute young bank agent played by Stephanie Honore unfortunately returns to the house and gets killed by shattered glass. The remaining crew finally believes and start a search for the source. They should have stayed together. Feeding the well so they can escape turns to be a bad idea. The end is a little unexpected as the producer goes to the dark side and kills everyone else. He continues on as an agent of the house.

I had no particular expectations to the this movie, as it is a Syfy product.

The story seems like rip-off of "House of Haunted Hill" with some elements from "The Ring" tossed in just for good measure, sort of having potential and was not too shabby. The first two-thirds of the movie were rather interesting. Despite it being labelled as a horror movie, there was very little to scare you in it. No major shocks or frights. Nothing creepy or crawly, just some mediocre stuff going on, and with mediocre CGI to accompany it. Then throughout the last third of the movie it all fell to the ground in a most horrible way. The movie became so boring and stupid during the last third part.

As for the cast? Well, some did an alright job, except for Corin Nemec. Wow, he was so miscast for this role. He looked like he was struggling with insects inside his pants. It was physically embarrassing to watch his horrendous performance in this movie. He is semi-alright in comedies, but here it was terrible to behold his acting (or rather, lack thereof).

The setting of the movie was adequate. Would have worked better, if the house had a more dark and brooding appearance and feel to it.

The movie is lukewarm entertainment at best. Don't except any thrills or chills from it though. And don't expect a showcase of awesome effects. If the movie experience was to be compared to a roller-coaster ride, then the ride would have no steep hill or facedown plunges, just a plain leveled ride with little amusement. For a ghost movie, this was pretty lame. It pales in comparison to movies like "13 Ghosts", "House of Haunted Hill", "The Haunting" and such.

The most scared I was, was for concern if I would be able to keep myself awake through the entire movie.

I would simply suggest watching this movie for what it is, a simple low budget horror movie. Everything in this is just correct... not bad or not that good. The story is pretty much classic , a haunted house, but they had a few thing to make it goes out of the ordinary. Special Effects are neither awesome but not bad at all, they are lets say believable. Actors where average at best but you are not watching an horror movie for its acting right? Charisma Carpenter should had less clothes on but well... lol. Seriously i enjoyed this little movie on a late night, it won't remain burned in my head for long, but it was entertaining on the moment.

To be honest, I was expecting House of Bones to be really bad. But actually, while heavily flawed it is not as bad as other SyFy movies. It is competently made, with decent editing and atmospheric lighting. Effects are kept at minimal and while nothing great when they are there they are much better than those in other SyFy efforts, not as fake-looking. Apart from an irritating performance from Corin Nemec and a disengaged Charisma Carpenter, the acting is about average, with nobody bad but also nobody standing out. The house is well-used and quite creepy, and the well-house twist was pretty nice. However, the sound effects and such are rather obvious sometimes, and the film is further brought down by a cheesy script, really obnoxious and stereotypical characters(especially the TV host), a story that while not dull is predictable, implausible(this may have been avoided if some of the ideas took slower to unfold) and completely let down by a suspense-less, downbeat and utterly ridiculous final third and too many scenes that are rather tame in alternative to unsettling. All in all, better than expected but nothing all that special at the end of the day. 4/10 Bethany Cox