House IV

Many people believe that "HOUSE 1" was a classic horror film and had a great deal of style...but they are sadly mistaken. The first House is the weakest of the series and is one of the most boring horror films ever made, but you gotta give 'em credit for trying to make it decent. Then came "HOUSE 2" a much better film, not scary, but entertaining, and occasionally funny.

For a long time people were trying to find "HOUSE 3", but all they had were House 1,2, and 4. "THE HORROR SHOW" was filmed as "HOUSE 3" and still is known as that film. Then came this, the best of the 4 films. (Well, at least I thought so.)This film has a style that no horror film has captured, a suspense very few horror films have surpassed, and a plot that very few writers could come up with.

A widow and her paralyzed daughter move into the house that their husband/dad left them. Suddenly weird things start happening, to them and everyone around. Great performances by Teri Treas, Denny Dillon, Mellissa Clayton, and of course William Katt form the first "HOUSE" (He doesn't play the same Roger though.)Suspenseful, great story, acting, and music score. **** out of *****.

I really expected something more from this movie. Despite the "House" franchise being very weak, the previous films proved to be more interesting. Without imagination, creativity or an effort to give us something really appealing, this film tried, however, to follow up the story of the first film. It was, still, a cold ending to a franchise that never really heated up.

The script returns to the figure of Roger Cobb, protagonist of the first film. After all the adventures of the first film, he's going to receive a house from his deceased father... which makes me think about the luck of this guy, who spends his life inheriting houses from several dying relatives... houses who are always haunted or have something supernatural. In fact, the film quite copies the structure of the initial film, with slight nuances that don't erase the feeling of "wait, I've seen this somewhere"...

Willian Katt returns to the role he played in the franchise's first film, but the quality of his work as an actor has notably declined. Without adequate material and without a direction demanding more, the actor is kind of left to himself and doesn't give us something really appealing. To make things even more difficult, the actor sees his character die extraordinarily quickly, so his appearance in this film is basically episodic. Despite her youth, Melissa Clayton also deserves a positive note, doing very well and stealing our attention, especially in the more comical scenes. Terri Treas also looks good to me in her character, even though the script reduces her to a screaming machine. Scott Burkholder is a cliché but fun villain. On the negative side, I must mention Ned Romero's very stereotyped performance and Denny Dillon's irritating acting, giving us the most out of place character.

With a mediocre script, poor direction and an uninspired cast, the redeeming characteristics of this film lie in the production values and, particularly, in the sensible and intelligent use of very good special effects, in which the production spent a good part of its budget. The movie is not very scary, it can almost be considered a family movie. The sets were also well-designed, the cinematography fulfills its role without any demerit and the editing seems to me quite discreet.

House IV (1992)

** (out of 4)

Roger Cobb (Willian Katt) is riding with his wife Kelly (Terri Treas) and their young daughter Laurel (Melissa Clayton) when their car crashes. Roger is killed so the wife and daughter follow his wishes and move into the house that he loved. Pretty soon strange things begin to happen.

HOUSE IV is without question the weakest film in the series because there's really just nothing new here. It's the same type of haunted house film that we've seen throughout the history of haunted house movies and there's very little to nothing new here. With that said, I do give the filmmakers credit for bringing the Roger character back, although they change elements from the first movie.

Obviously it's pretty cool getting to see Katt returning to the role but he's not in the film too long. Treas is okay in the role but I'm not sure she was strong enough to carry the picture but you've also got to mainly blame the screenplay since it really doesn't give her too much to do except for scream and run around into one trap after another. Clayton is nice in the role of the young daughter and Scott Burkholder is good as well.

The film's most memorable moments are the special effects, which are quite good. There are various "haunted" things that happen but none of them are overly scary so we resort back to the "fun" effects including one scene where a pizza comes to life. Even with the nice special effects, there's just not much else here so it's hard to really support the film. HOUSE IV isn't awful but it's just rather bland and unoriginal.

The family man Roger Cobb (William Katt) is visiting an old house that belongs to his family with his wife Kelly (Terri Treas) and their daughter Laurel (Melissa Clayton). His stepbrother Burke (Scott Burkholder) wants to buy the house but Roger refuses since he had promised his father to keep the real estate with his family. While returning home, the car has a flat tire and the car overturns. Roger dies and Laurel becomes paraplegic. Kelly decides to move with Kelly to the house and soon weird things happen. Soon she learns that the house was built over an Indian sacred soil crowded of spirits, Meanwhile Burke decides to press Kelly with his gangsters to force her to sell the house. What will she do?

"House IV" is an entertaining film with many flaws where the viewer cannot think. There are good scenes (maybe the shower scene is the best) but the story has many holes. Is Roger Cobb the same writer of "House" that retrieved his son Jimmy? If so, the guy has inherited another old haunted house and left his previous family? Kelly cannot afford to pay the plumber but the man is simply forgotten. Why Verna came to the house? Roger protects his family from beyond but is not capable to save the house? What Kelly and Laurel will do with the house burnt to the ground and without money? Y vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "House IV - A Casa do Espanto" ("House IV - The Frightening House")

Let's see..."House 1","House 2","House 4".......what happened to part three???I have never found a part three and I'm not the only one.A good film,though not as good as the first two.Good for a laugh or two.Could make you think twice before ordering a pizza though.......