House III

I waited a long time to see a third House movie, and once I heard it was called The Horror Show, I had to rent it. The Horror Show is a pretty cool film.True it has no relation to House, but neither did the second, or fourth ones, and they were still good. Brian James makes a great bad guy.Good story, and o.k. acting.*** out of *****.

Lucas McCarthy (Lance Henriksen) hunts, fights and finally catches the serial killer Max Jenke (Brion James). But after Lucas witnesses Jenke's drawn-out and violent execution - via the electric chair - he instead begins to see and hear him everywhere!

Lance Henriksen is as always great, and much of the movie's appeal comes from him - and, even more so, from a completely insane Brion James!! His totally unrestrained scenery chewing is exactly the right tactic in a film like this. If you blend into the background, you will definitely become part of the crappy movie, but if you stand out from the crowd, you have a 50% chance of being the positive thing that people remember afterwards.

-And Brion James, in the role of Max Jenke, is hard to forget!

On the plus side is also KNB Effects (Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger), who went all-in and created lots of grotesque and disgusting makeup effects and loose body parts....most of which both the American and in particular the Swedish censors then hacked away (however, I did watch an almost completely intact Blu-Ray release).

The story (what story?) is completely bonkers, most of the supporting characters are made of see through plastic played by b-actors, and the very sudden happy ending feels like a bizarre tacked-on solution.

Lance Henriksen, a madly entertaining Brion James and KNB rescue it from the bottom of the barrel, and they - and ONLY they - are what makes me give it a pass.

When one of the writers is named "Alan Smithee", it is usually not a good sign, and it's easy to see why one of the original writers pulled his name off of this. Other than the presence of Lance Henriksen and Brion James, the movie is boring and makes no sense. Watching James turn into a human barbecue, and then return from the dead to torment Henriksen, is not exactly Oscar material. In addition, the teenage siblings are both annoying and stereotyped. Countless trips to the basement simply to build tension along with numerous jump scares, does not a movie make. So what you get is a strong opening, followed by a script that really goes nowhere. If you don't believe me, just ask Mr. Smithee". - MERK

I just learned (reading these IMDb reviews) that this is a supposed "House" iteration... I never would have guessed it- In fact, I've been a fan of this film for years, and never even considered it had anything to do with the "House" films (I've only seen the US release, which is NOT titled 'House III', obviously)- Lance Henrickson is his usual, intense, (in my opinion, Excellent) self, we see a young Dedee Pfiefer being, well, herself- and Brion James at his most foreboding since 'Leon' in Bladerunner... (not going to talk about Tango & Cash here...). As for the 'Shocker' similarities- check the dates... this one came out first- Because of this, (all deference to Mitch Pileggi, of whom I'm also a big fan) I've always felt that Shocker was the rip-off, of a MUCH more intense and, pardon the pun, Shocking film... (I was really surprised to see a "Smithee" attached to this film anywhere- my guess is... politics. But hey, that's Hollyweird for ya). Yup, there's gore, and oh yeah- swearing galore, but this movie is one I look forward to dusting off every October, as my "must watch list" approaches "psycho-killer week"... (quick plug here- if you haven't decided whether or not to watch "Behind the Mask- The Rise of Leslie Vernon"- do yourself a Big favor, and check it out- it defies classification; funny, sharp, and actually Scary!).

If you're looking for a horror movie that may make you wince (talking about Horror Show)- this one could be a winner for you- It certainly is for me.

TDB in Hollywood

Quick P.S.- Fans of Lance- If Vampire movies are more your speed, a MUST-See is "Near Dark"- Honestly one of the Coolest Fang-pics I've ever seen... Happy Haunting!

I have to confess absolutely loving the first 'House' film. Yes, the (now iconic) marketing poster of a decomposing severed hand ringing a doorbell may have been a tad misleading. You may think you were in for one scary experience when, in fact, you received one hell of a tongue-in-cheek black horror-comedy. The (inevitable) sequel was so-so, but by this third instalment, it had well and truly lost its way.

Where as the first two 'House' films were both heavily linked to - surprise, surprise - a house, this film seems to forget why it's called what it is. In fact I believe in some territories when the film was released the 'House' part of the title was completely dropped in favour of a more ambiguous 'The Horror Show' title. I guess this tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the project, i.e. it's not really a sequel but more of a horror script that was sort of crow-barred in under the familiar (and therefore profitable) 'House' brand in order to increase sales. But is it any good?

Unfortunately, not really. Even by a stand-alone horror film it's a bit lame. However, that's not for the efforts of leading man Lance Henriksen, who does everything in his extensively-cool acting range to bring some drama to the proceedings. It's starts okay enough - Henriksen is a cop tortured by his previous experiences with a serial killer, only for said nasty to come back from the grave to haunt his family (in the house, in case you were wondering). Then it all kind of falls apart as the scares become fewer and further between and the plot descends into predictability. The serial killer is portrayed by (Bladerunner's) Brion James and he too does his best to add some terror with the limited script available to him. However, in the end, both main actors end up just chewing up the scenery in an attempt to try and elevate what is a particularly forgettable B-movie into something vaguely memorable.

There's some nice practical effects here and there and it's always nice to be reminded of a time before CGI gore ruled the horror scene. But, at the end of the day, it's not enough to save this film. I'm a big fan of Lance Henriksen and watch most of his output, but even I would struggle to sit through this film again (I've watched it twice - the first time over twenty years ago and completely forgotten it. Therefore I've just seen it again and felt I better review it before everything about it escapes me again). The first 'House' film is a classic. Just stick to that.