User reviews

While I'm no movie expert, I am a horror fan and not easily scared. Sadly, there's so long between a horror movie which really delivers, but this one did rather well I thought. What makes it all the more joyful, is the lack of reliance on special effects. It's well paced and uses the art of suggestion rather than cheep jump-scares, a style I appreciate. Furthermore, I found myself sympathizing greatly with the female protagonist, another key element in a good horror movie. This movie keeps the viewer speculating and guessing until the end, which I find is the turning point of a scary movie. Nothing is more scary that the unknown, as we well know. This brings me to the only regret I have about this movie, -the ending. I won't reveal anything, but as most suspense movies, the ending leaves the viewer a bit disappointed. I for my part can forgive the movie for this, since it relates to the point above. It's the unknown which is most scary, the sum of possible explanations. As soon as the movie settles on one specific explanation, most of the suspense is diffused. Don't let this keep you from viewing the movie though. I promise, it postpones the inevitable solution as long as possible. All in all; no masterpiece, but delivers as a horror movie.

An unsettled couple with a baby on the way move back from the city to the wife's hometown, but she dreads their new home while everyone else thinks she's crazy.

Dialogue heavy psychological ghost story with problems in script, direction, editing and pace. The stand out feature is the photography and framing of shots, where a lot of care and intelligence is on show from the start. The dialogue is often too much or just trite, and many scenes start too early or end too late, and some of the cut aways or inserts in the editing are pointless. There is a good house warming scene, lively and well observed, but that's about it.

The biggest problem is that the ghost story doesn't measure up to the psychological drama, with no drive to it - comparable to The Babadook - and the director's overuse of jump scares is feeble. And 111 mins? 20 too many.

The parts are well played, with the lead actress giving good close up and the mother and psychic showing their experience, but sometimes the actors struggled with the dialogue and the lack of motivation within the story.

The music is good but nothing outstanding.

Overall - frustrating to see so much quality serving a weak story.

If it's gonna be dumb at least make it fun. That's surely the unwritten rule of horror. But this bland and generic haunted house indie makes the fatal error of trying to keep a straight face throughout, however predictable the events and however skin-crawling the dialogue. It's restrained in its deployment of violence – but also, sadly, in terms of enjoyment.

Jennifer (Emily Goss) and Luke (Taylor Bottles) move into a big crumbling house in a sleepy Kansas suburb. She's seven months pregnant and reluctant. He urges her to give the place a go. They're soon visited by Jennifer's overbearing mother, Meredith (Cathy Barnett), whose presence seems to trigger memories in Jennifer of a previous breakdown. So when the house starts taunting 'n' haunting, the assumption is that Jennifer is simply on the turn again. Most of the horror (and accompanying tedium) emerges from the fear of not being believed, and the threat to mother and child.

It's a familiar setup: giving a chance to an instantly creepy house; one partner who's nervous and one who's patient; the forbidden room; the secret past; the strange staring neighbours. I was surprised when no one finds a box of old video tapes and newspaper cuttings. The 'Better Movie Checklist' looms large: The Omen (creepy child); Poltergeist (tossed furniture and a visiting psychic); The Shining (ambiguous twins); The Haunting (a chilling case of mistaken identity).

But more than anything there's the presence of Rosemary's Baby: motherhood anxiety seeps into the very fabric of the film; particularly its best scenes, between Jennifer and her scheming, possessive mother. There's a moment when Jennifer goes to her mum's house for solace, and they seem to slip back into roles that have existed since Jennifer's childhood. There's enough eerie tension here to suggest the story may be turning towards an intriguing third act. But that junction is promptly passed by.

The overarching problem is, the cinematic influences are great but where's the USP? The drama is rote, the plot is plodding, and the scares are imaginative only on a micro level: mouse traps triggered by an unknown force, or boxes inexplicably moving of their own accord. Like many a horror movie without an identity, it starts well enough, with some intriguing, subtle spookings. But alas, it becomes quickly clear, through formulaic plot beats and zombified dialogue ("There's no such thing as ghosts"), that this is a movie lacking a unique personality.

Speaking of which, Goss and Bottles put in a pair of performances which are adequate at best. Having far more fun are Barnett as the mother and Jim Korinke as the possibly-psychic Walter. The latter gets the best piece of bad dialogue: a WTF climactic speech about the forces of energy (or something) which is presumably meant to tie everything up, but which is so rambling and bizarre that you have to wonder if the actor himself knew what he was on about.

The photography has a pallid appearance, all autumn hues and naturalistic lighting, which only serves to highlight the unconvincing characters and jars with the laughable events. When Jennifer is being tossed around by the poltergeist, a different score would have made it comedy gold. But instead we get by-the-numbers ambient doom music connoting something much more horrifying than what we're actually seeing.

Remarkably, at the end I was left unsure as to whether a key character was meant to have died. The reactions of the other characters just seemed incongruent. I'm not sure if this was unforgivably poor writing and editing or whether I'd simply stopped caring by then. Either way it does nothing to endorse this very uninteresting and uninspired film.

This is not a film for the impatient, or those whom need everything tied up in a neat bow. If this is horror at all, and it is hard to say it is, it psychological horror only, I would call this an intense psychological drama rather. I originally watched this about a year ago, but it stuck with me, and I felt the desire to watch it again. This is rare for me, as I do not re-watch a great number of films. What brought me back to this film was it's sense of hopelessness, and the main characters lack of control. These are two things the film hits smack on the head, and it creates a sense of dread, as long, as like most spooky films, you can suspend your disbelief.

Tonally, this film is along the lines of "Rosemary's Baby", I am not comparing it in quality, which is inferior to RB, but rather it's storytelling approach. I will never understand someone using old fashioned as an insult, we enjoy many old fashioned things such as "old fashioned sodas", "old fashioned fudge" or "old fashioned taffy", etc, but when it doesn't jibe with what we think or agree, we think Old Fashioned is an insult. This film certainly has old fashioned sensibilities and storytelling, and as such, not everyone will like it.

The only terror in this film, is a lack of control. The lead character feels as though everything is out of control. She wasn't allowed to make a life altering choice, and as such, was forced by those who love her to leave the town she loves and has friends in. She is forced to move to a place she clearly hates, and this is her only means of control, hate and fear. This, in a sense scares her, but gives her power. The very things she fears, in the end come to be, and ultimately, give her what she wants. When you think about the ending in this regard, it makes the lead a fairly diabolical woman. Then ending, which I will not reveal, is not head scratcher, if you pay attention, and try to understand the themes of the film, which I believe I conveyed fairly well above. The ending is both heartbreaking, infuriating, and a relief.

This is an underrated psychological film with a great deal of subtext, and it really requires two viewings to catch what is truly going on here, it isn't as simple as it seems on the surface. The reason people don't enjoy this film is because they want something straight-forward where you take everything at face value, this is a slow-paced subtext heavy film, if that is not your cup of tea, avoid it please.

God Bless ~Amy

I swear, some day I'm going to write a script for a horror movie where the significant other actually believes, listens to, and respects the person who is clearly being terrified by something. This movie is exhausting and frustrating.

After reading so many negative comments on the IMDb message board, I was very skeptical about watching this film at the local cinema. But I decided to go against all of the negativity and give this film a chance and I'm very glad I did so.

I was the only one in the entire theater (which is always a plus for me as I hate the annoying moviegoers using their cell phone or having a loud conversation with one another).

So this movie is not your run of the mill 'Horror' that Hollywood is churning out these days with the usual creature make ups and jump scares. For me, none of that is scary. It never makes me feel uneasy. It's rather just a cheap ploy to make the viewer jump the same way a child might do by hiding behind a corner and scream boo!.

This movie is a rather fresh take on the entire paranormal phenomenon and it lets the viewer decide what they think is taking place and whether or not it is real. The story made me connect with the protagonist, the husband and even the mother in law at the same time making me change my mind about each one of them throughout.

Of course it uses the typical "husband won't believe what the wife tells him" but it is used in a very clever way.

I do not want to give away too much but I thought It would be good to give my two cents on the review section and let people know that there was never a dull moment in the film for me. The shots were tasteful, the acting was very good and the 'horror' bits were unsettling without the use of cheap tactics.

At the end of the film, I was very pleased and I would recommend it to any true fans of the supernatural/psychological horror genre. Not recommended for fans of Jump Scare Horror. It's a solid 8/10.

It is not a masterpiece, but it's a great little film.

Not bad for a spooky movie. Actors were good, written and directed well. Tackled a few stigmatas (life concerns to unpack) with each character. I went in with no expectations and it surprised me that it wasn't a bad watch lol

Why does everyone in this film have the emotional range of a turnip? Emily Goss has the same look on her face from start to finish. The film tries really hard to build up suspense, but is held back by bad predictable storytelling, and even worse acting. I'm a fan of so bad they're good horror movies, but this movie is just bad.

I heard a lot of hype for The House on Pine Street for awhile when it was making it's rounds across the film festival circuit. Sitting down and watching the movie was unattainable unless I wanted to travel quite some distance to catch it at a festival.

I was elated to see that it was finally available to view privately.

And then I started to watch it....

One of the first things I noticed immediately was the terrible acting. Every motion in this movie feels like just that, going through a motion. The three main characters you'll be dealing with (Jennifer, Luke, and Meredith) all lack fluidity on the screen overall. Worse yet, they fail to bring forth any stir of emotion in the more intimate scenes.

A big supporter in the downfall stated above, is the atrocious script. The dialogue is dry and immensely boring (add onto this the white-washed filter they used to shoot the entire film, and it's basically a lullaby.) There is little to no character development even as you reach the end of the almost two-hour run time. And worse yet, the big reveal of the "evil" that haunts our protagonist at the end can be equated, basically, as "bad vibes dude".

I REALLY love and respect a good horror film. It's a genre in film that calls for a lot of finesse. It takes phenomenal acting, a good plot, and creating an atmosphere to encompass all these elements together in a package containing ample amounts of dread.

The House on Pine Street nailed absolutely none of these elements. It was an extreme disappointment.

If you want to see a good horror film from 2015, check out "It Follows".

It's really scary to watch a movie made by people that have never interacted with another human being in their entire lives! If someone can explain to me ONE message that exists in this movie I would love to hear it. It is nothing but loose ends spilling out of bad actors mouths.

The House on Pine street should be shown to any horror movie director as an example on how to make a good movie.

It's also an example of how a good story and good direction can take a movie with a low budget and make it excellent. You don't need a lot of special effects if the story is done right.

The scares are very subtle and don't even tip you off with scary music. I love movies like that, you actually have to pay attention. The acting was well done and the story left a lot for the viewer to interpret.

If you are a person that doesn't enjoy a movie where you may have to draw your own conclusions, this movie may not be for you. If you enjoy a movie that keeps you on your toes and makes you think about it, give this one a chance.

It's so rare to find a original ideas in indi horror movies. This is a real gem.

No silly jump scares, but pure tension that builds up throughout the movie.

Psychological horror is the hardest thing to pull off well, and this director nailed it!

No silly ghost lore or demons, just constant guessing - is she being haunted, or is she insane.

Well acted, well written, well cast, well done.

If you want something that differs from the norm, definitely check out this film.

I wish I could have my time back. It seemed somewhat promising for a while. Doesn't really take long to build the story. But then it just goes NO WHERE. it spins in a circle with the same sceneries happening over and over. Had to see the ending since I made. It through the movie, but it was not worth it.

Unless you enjoy pointless and not even mediocre, writing, acting, production or coherent plots. Absolutely shocking and not in the way it allegedly set out to be. Characters are wooden except I think for the main protagonist. She had something but it was not her best move saying yes to this nonsense. Other characters were given a sub plot which could well have been interesting if it had had any bearing on the story at all. Clue: Weird neighbour and her selectively mute kids????? Believe me, I really thought, YES, this is were its going. Alas, No, no, no, no. Just plain strange, totally useless addition to an utterly clueless film. Apologies for the rant but my God, this deserved it and more. So annoyed that I wasted nearly 2 hrs hoping it would come to something, well, anything other than the dross climax which is ultimately where it ended up.