Small budget horror that still has a few frights
The plot is one that has been done before – it is the haunted house scenario where previous misdemeanours still lurk as a stain on the soul of the property. The house here is an old New England home that is now a Bed and Breakfast but used to house an alleged midwife cum witch, child killer.
Enter Dan and Jess to buy the place. Dan has to go on a business trip and when he returns his erstwhile loving wife has turned cold and uncaring. He soon finds out that the house has a few secrets and so sets about finding out what happened in the past to cause such occurrences in the now. The perennial question is always, will he find out before it is too late?
Well the problem with horror is that fans expect an awful lot of a genre where it has basically been done before. It is hard to get a new twist and, even if you do, it then has to translate as 'horrific' or have some truly scary fright scenes. As we become more inured to slasher and gore fests so we tend to want more 'frights' and actually this scored quite highly there.
It actually gave me goose bumps more than once, but it does suffer from lack of characters. We don't get any back story of the couple either or enough time to get some positive feelings for the couple in the 'empathy bank', which means we are not going to care enough when bad stuff happens. The music is good though at atmosphere enhancement but it is started off by being 'spooky' and carried on throughout – we could have done with some variety or the tension starts to become the norm and therefore has less impact. Acting here is fine for a budget film – Michael Reed as Dan being rather good and directors the Rassmussen brothers have made a rather good effort which they say was a labour of love and that comes through. Not the best horror ever but a million blood drenched miles from the worst and for an independent effort there is plenty here to applaud.
Enter Dan and Jess to buy the place. Dan has to go on a business trip and when he returns his erstwhile loving wife has turned cold and uncaring. He soon finds out that the house has a few secrets and so sets about finding out what happened in the past to cause such occurrences in the now. The perennial question is always, will he find out before it is too late?
Well the problem with horror is that fans expect an awful lot of a genre where it has basically been done before. It is hard to get a new twist and, even if you do, it then has to translate as 'horrific' or have some truly scary fright scenes. As we become more inured to slasher and gore fests so we tend to want more 'frights' and actually this scored quite highly there.
It actually gave me goose bumps more than once, but it does suffer from lack of characters. We don't get any back story of the couple either or enough time to get some positive feelings for the couple in the 'empathy bank', which means we are not going to care enough when bad stuff happens. The music is good though at atmosphere enhancement but it is started off by being 'spooky' and carried on throughout – we could have done with some variety or the tension starts to become the norm and therefore has less impact. Acting here is fine for a budget film – Michael Reed as Dan being rather good and directors the Rassmussen brothers have made a rather good effort which they say was a labour of love and that comes through. Not the best horror ever but a million blood drenched miles from the worst and for an independent effort there is plenty here to applaud.
- t-dooley-69-386916
- Dec 29, 2015