First House on the Hill

I can't believe I watched it all. I have this pathetic compulsion to see things thru regardless of how much agony it causes. This was all over the place. There was no cohesiveness. I think I got a migraine trying to follow it. The actors were so unnatural that it hurt. Lord I regret watching this. Please believe me, you do not want to watch this.

I found two similar "isolation" type movies and decided to watch both before reviewing. I watched this first, and "Edge of Isolation" the following night, because "Edge" had the lower rating. This is the second time I've done comparisons on two similar movies, and both times the second, lower rates movie was better. When I decide to recommend a movie it isn't "would I watch it again" (that's almost always a no), it's more "after seeing it, would I go back and watch it in the first place?". While I would definitely watch "Edge", I would save the 90 minutes I wasted watching "First House". It had my attention in the beginning, it had potential. I watched in interest at first, seeing how it would develop, but then it took a turn for the worse. Where the movie had a chance to get interesting, it just went bat $hit crazy, like the writer dropped some acid at the beginning of the movie and then it hit him an hour in. I'll save you the trouble and just tell you to go watch "Edge of Isolation" instead.

I selected this movie for my filmfestival in Hannover and it even became 2nd in the audience vote. It is a nice little hommage to the Giallos with strong vivid colours, good camera work and athmosphere. Of course it is not like todays terror movies. If you are in the mood for something that looks like it was shot decades ago, I can recommend it.

Horror genre fans are a fickle bunch: They love exercising their right to complain about what seems like most movies, big and small. Yet despite their chagrin, they come back over and over again, and at a per capita headcount few other genres can muster.

I tire easily of major studio slickness in my horror, and love instead the well-made indie horror film that plays off classic themes and does it with some soul and some flair. First House On The Hill fits exactly that descriptor. It's a film directly reflective of its name and its poster art, so there's no spoiler alert here, horror fans: It's about a house on the hill -- specifically the First House On The Hill -- and the events that happen there after a small group checks in for a stay.

I find it ambitious when a filmmaker takes a story that's been leveraged before in classic films, and has the stones to try to bend it to make it his or her own. That's what director and screenwriter Matteo Saradini attempts, and my own personal aesthetic allows me to say, unequivocally, that he succeeds inaccomplishing exactly that. The First House on the Hill delivers the spooks, and then some. Horror fans, prepare to rejoice.

As others have observed, there is quite an unevenness in all aspects of the movie, with an exception of the music score, which was solid and consistent. Story and acting were particularly weak, and the directing followed closely behind. Would it be better if the movie were more derivative of the 70's giallo originals? Probably yes, but it would also benefit from taking more courageous film-making decisions. Not a total waste of time, this crew could be given another chance, but they should not blew it like this one.