House of Forbidden Secrets

The first time I saw "House" in a theater was in Tampa FL at the Tampa Pitcher Show screening. I had seen the film before, but at this screening I found myself still getting very wrapped up in the film's plot with all its twists. This film keeps you guessing at every turn and there isn't a dull moment throughout. I absolutely love some dark humor served with my horror, and this movie doesn't disappoint. What an amazing cast - everyone did such a great job! Lloyd Kaufman was a riot, and along with Brad and Antwoine brought that humor that I love. Dyanne Thorne was the perfect Madame and I adored her character. I think she was amazing in the role of Greta. Amazing performances by Lew Temple (Elias) and Nicole Santorella (Cassie) leading us through this crazy, creepy paranormal journey. Overall I loved that I was surprised, that I laughed, and yet was still creeped out by the plot and impressed by the effects. Todd is known for his love for gore in his films and this one remains true to form! I thought the dialog was great, and the story was original and unexpected. The crowd in attendance at the theater seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and many offered their enthusiastic responses to the screening that night. My family was also there and I heard some very positive feedback. Very impressive and I am sure that I will watch "House" many more times in the future and love it more each time. Amazing work!

A well-constructed horror story with beautiful camera shots and lighting in the Dario Argento mold, House of Forbidden Secrets was a good Friday night frightfest. The build-up is nicely put together and you don't need to wait too long before scary things occur within the building. It takes a little bit of time to introduce the characters and set up the story, not in a "slow burn horror" kind of way like The Witch or Ring, but it does have something to say, storyline wise. The Previous occupants still present an ancient evil waiting deep in the bowels beneath the property, waiting to cross back into our world for some bloodthirsty revenge. Director Todd Sheets proves to have a good sense of style and mood, he crafts a film that works and doesn't want to pander to a younger, "hipper" audience for the sake of doing so. He does not pander to audiences who are used to super fast "music video" type editing either.

The tone, the setting, the music, the lighting and the twists in the plot were all produced to get maximum thrills on a meager budget. And I think it worked well here. It's obvious that everyone on this film worked very hard to make something original but that plays like an old Horror movie from the 70s or 80s. Though there are a few hitches, as is the case with most low budget movies, the film takes on a very ambitious story and ends up being a successful endeavor in which the plot, production, and effects are just enough to let the few budgetary glitches slide by barely even noticed. Much better than films that spend millions of dollars and fill the screen with CGI, If you allow yourself, you can be completely pulled into the film itself and take it for what it is, a fun throwback done right. House of Forbidden Secrets was exactly what I had hoped it would be, a fun way to spend an hour and a half.

The imdb synopsis gives more backstory to the new security guard than the movie does itself. I think his intro in the movie goes something like this: "This guy's the new security guard." Where to begin? Pair up sub-Manos-level acting with absolutely heinous dialogue, add a completely nonsensical story, and, what the hell, throw in some embarrassing period accents, and you've got House of Forbidden Secrets. This was an absolute train wreck, and a boring one! I was left with one question when this movie ended: What the hell was that supposed to be about?

Literally, the only interesting thing on this Blu-ray is Lloyd Kaufman hamming it up in the gag reel. And there's something that can be seen in a variety of places. Also, pet peeve. There are "deleted scenes" in the extras, when in all actuality they are "extended" scenes. I wish DVD authors would stop doing this. I'm not watching the entire scene all over again to see if I can spot a couple seconds they cut. Coincidentally, the movie itself has a penchant for recycling scenes, frame for frame, to, I dunno, pad out the running time?

Zero stars.

I grew up with cheesy horror movies from the 70's, 80's and 90's. I became a fan of the horror genre in general. So I am no newbie when it comes to B horror cheese. I went into this film thinking that it'd be pretty good, based on the scores given for the film. I mean, what movie could be bad when it has a cameo from the Lloyd Kaufman? Well, this movie wasn't good. I can't think of a single good thing to say about this movie besides the gratuitous nudity it has. There is no redeeming part of this film. From the actors, to the cinematography, it's all pretty bad. The movie appears to pride itself in the fact it considers itself a grind house film, but even then, while the acts of violence are apparent, they are done in such a direct way, with such poor effects, they don't do anything to make the movie any better. People will make mentions of films such as Blood Feast, when it comes to the graphic content of this movie. The thing is, even the victims of Blood Feast will writhe in agony while they are being brutalized in the film. But in this film, it's like the actors stand still while their faces are ripped off, or their entrails are pulled out. The story makes almost no sense. It doesn't help that the movie jumps all over the place, so there isn't really any sort of consistent story. I fell asleep twice while watching this film, I had to re-watch it almost three times. That's a terrible precedent for horror movies. If you fail to grab my attention so much I can't stay awake, you failed at your job. Avoid this at all costs. It's garbage, it's junk and it uses hyped up keywords to try and draw it's viewers in.

This is definitely not a grindhouse or giallo film as other 9-10 star reviewers stated. It does not pay homage to those geners. Its an insult to great indi and 0 budget movies. The cinematography was bad, the acting awful.

If you enjoy flat, slate beer infused with cigarette butts and aerosol spray cheese on stale limp crackers. you will definitely love this film.