The Burnt House is a surprisingly old fashioned chiller from director Adam (Cross Bearer) Ahlbrandt. Having grown up with the masterful '70s Christmas ghost stories from the BBC, I love a good spine tingler. This is well crafted supernatural horror with sprinklings of modernity to please today's genre fan.
Monica Knight plays the beautiful, doe-eyed Megan who is recovering from the loss of her child with husband Joe (J.D. Brown). The two seek sanity and recovery in a quiet house, out in the quietest neck of the woods and away from the annoyances of civilisation. The house itself is like a third character; every inch seems thick with atmosphere and foreboding (although it's interesting to note that, due to various reasons, numerous locations had to double for the property). As with films of this nature, things go bump in the night after only a short amount of time. It's thanks to the calibre of the acting and the competent direction that this film stands out from the crowd. There are moments where my mind leapt to early viewings of The Shining and The Amityville Horror but this was down to the quality of the movie rather than anything negative (I'll say it again, this film is atmospheric).
The Burnt House hits the ground running with a violent and bloody intro and it captured my attention throughout. There are some frightening moments and wonderfully dark imagery, thanks to Doug Sakmann's fantastic special effects and make-up. In fact, I was even creeped out even by the end credits and a slowed down song from the film as it appears for a final reprise. The music in this production is very good and credit again does to the sickeningly talented Mr. Ahlbrandt (whose responsibilities on this film are too numerous to list here).
Beautiful to watch, The Burnt House is recommended viewing. The only downside to watching movies from the likes of Adam Ahlbrandt and Dustin Mills is that many of their modern counterparts can't meet the same quality standards. However, whilst other filmmakers can disappoint, it's fantastic to see these guys act as champions for the underground.
