A Casa dos Mistérios

The story is actually pretty good but the acting is terrible.

It starts out pretty good and we actually thought this is going to be a very watchable movie. So we were pretty excited. But then reality sets in.

The lead female role plays her part "ok", but you cannot say that for the rest. There will be scenes where you think....it this a joke. You will loose interest but still curious enough to get through it.

It is actually a shame as this could have been way better if they just took their time to really see this through again before release.

We love movies and really wanted to like this more.

The reason for not givning a 1 start is because of the lead role and the story.

Whenever I review a film that I rated under 5 stars I tend to start by completely spoiling a plot and pre-checking that "yes" button asking me if my review contains spoilers. I'm doing this for the common viewer. If I spoil it for you, perhaps I'll save you from watching it, but in this case, there isn't really much to spoil. The plot can be summed up in a single sentence, but the creators must have thought it was so deep that it needed a many layered ending.

This should-have-been-a-short disaster contains about 20 minutes of screaming without any score behind it, so if you watch it, make sure you keep the volume down or your neighbors might call 911, because that's what normal people do when they hear scream and numerous gunshots in real life. Shoot. Is that a spoiler. Nah, don't think so.

Emma takes a job as a caregiver for a senile old woman. Strange things start happening in the house. What Emma doesn't know is that the house hides a terrifying secret.

The secret is this movie stinks. Nothing about it is good or real. From the outset, it's supposed to be set in NYC, 1989, but everyone seems to have a weird indistinguishable European accent.

Further, the sets are strange. In fact, the entire movie seems to have been shot in one old house with crumbling walls -- even shots not supposed to be in the main house seem to be in the same building. It all looks so similar.

And nothing looks like NYC at all. It all looks European. So, from the very beginning, you are confused. And then the bad acting sets in. And it's really bad.

Compounding this is the ridiculously slow pace of the film. It will put you to sleep. Truly one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time.

A real mess of a film.

Starts off not too bad, with the hint of a supernatural element which builds a bit of atmosphere.

This then collapses once it is revealed what is actually going on (they are quite vague about the details and the reasoning so you will be left confused). What is actually going on is not scary, it breaks what tension the film contained.

Of course, the main character makes some stupid choices which help the film to continue, this is normal in horror but here it is extreme and highly frustrating.

The main character is acted fairly well, the others do a so-so job.

The further explanations towards the end, from an outside source, only muddy the waters in terms of what is going on and especially why it is going on.

The end is meant to be thought provoking, but it fails to achieve that.

Avoid.

You'd be hard pushed to find something worse.

It's not even a B movie, it's much further down the alphabet.

The acting is hideous- just pathetic. It's Hollyoaks with Eastern European accents. The 'action' scenes (I use the phrase lightly) are simply woeful. Laurel and Hardy looked more realistic.

Then there is the effort at suspenseful music- I think the pianist had 7 fingers amputated.

The story is weak as a can of Carling and there is absolutely nothing gripping about tge storyline or tge characters. At one point, I partly wanted the main protagonist to be killed just for being so utterly stupid. Avoid.