The Charnel House

OK so this is my first movie review. I felt obligated to write it, and this is why....

This movie deserves MAYBE a 3 out of 10. After checking, all of the users who gave this movie rave reviews have only written one review ever, which was for this movie alone. Basically people that are probably associated with the creation of the movie that want to make it sound amazing, when it really just isn't.

To be honest, this movie just had no substance. No suspense, no actual scary moments (I say this because horror is listed as the genre), no decent or interesting characters that you end up caring about at any point. Don't get fooled by the fake reviews, I would highly suggest not bothering with this one.

There's nothing sadder than seeing the film's creators and/or fans making obvious attempts to jack up the IMDB rating with 10/10 reviews. Talk about greedy, you couldn't give it a 7? This wasn't Silence of the Lambs for crying out loud.

As for the film itself, it's about as dull and generic as low-effort horror movies go. Not a scary film in the slightest. There are better horror flicks on Netflix; watch those instead.

The acting is great for this kind of movie. It's well done and watchable. It could have made an interesting short series or anthology show.

However the main problem here is that it's just not scary. Really like not at all.

The premise is pretty generic and the film clearly has very little budget. The special effects are pretty lame and overall its not got anything very interesting to bring to the screen. In addition most of the acting isnt very good, with the notable exception of the little girl who was actually okay.

Having said all of that, I have seen an awful lot worse and it didnt completely bore me which plenty of other movies have done. So below average but not the worst movie ever.

'The Charnel House' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster, an intriguing idea and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

Found the film to be pretty weak with a lot more wrong than right. 'The Charnel House' is not great, or good, has a fair share of problems (fairly big ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There are however a few decent, even good, qualities in 'The Charnel House', at least it wasn't intelligence insulting or inept (unlike some films seen recently) though the potential was never lived up to.

Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric, likewise with the very nice way it's shot. The music is suitably spooky and quirky and doesn't distract at all from the atmosphere, while not exactly enhancing it.

'The Charnel House' started off fairly spookily.

However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained. The more 'The Charnel House' progressed, the duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary it got, and too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it.

Acting is never amateurish, there has been far worse acting before and since and at least they try with limited material and sketchy, dull and clichéd characters, but nobody is note-worthy.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the second half and never is it exciting. Found the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense, and the end felt not much of a climax.

In conclusion, pretty weak but not unwatchable. 3/10 Bethany Cox