House

I didn't even realize this was a Ted Dekker story until the end of the film, which explains a lot. He's also responsible for the "story" in the lame Seven knockoff cleverly titled "Three". He also writes Christian horror, whatever the hell that means. Michael Madsen is usually a recipe for disaster in any movie not titled Reservoir Dogs, and he screws it up here as well. Apparently Christian horror is about as effective as Christian rock. It looks like horror, kinda smells like horror, but it's not really horror. I'm not too religious myself, but being a Christian doesn't mean you have to stomach half-baked garbage like this just because it's written by someone who touts himself as a Christian writer. It's like liking those horrifyingly bad Left Behind books. Don't excuse bad writing just because the writer is a Christian. That's weak sauce. Use your head, people. There is also no reason for this to be rated R whatsoever. I can't remember any swearing and there was hardly any blood considering all the death in the film. There's an interesting concept in the flick somewhere but it gets lost in the shoddy camera-work and hit-or-miss acting that proves everyone involved is not quite ready for prime time. It gets one extra star for the awesome Bill Moseley, though he's wasted in this disappointing wanna-be horror film. Ted Dekker and Dan Brown should get together. Maybe between them they might be able to come up with a fully-functioning story. I said might...

While driving through a secondary road for a meeting with a marriage counselor in Montgomery, Alabama, the estranged couple Jack Singleton (Reynaldo Rosales) and Stephanie Singleton (Heidi Dippold) ask for directions to a Police Officer (Michael Madsen) but they have a car accident with a metal part left on the road. Jack realizes that his Mustang has two flat tires and they see an abandoned Beamer parked on the road with the head lights on and flat tires.

Jack and Steph walks in the rain seeking for help. They see an inn where they meet the businessman and owner of the Beamer, Randy Messsarue (J.P. Davis), and his fiancée Leslie Taylor (Julie Ann Emery). Out of the blue, the weird owners Pete ( Lew Temple), his mother Betty (Leslie Easterbrook) and Stewart (Bill Moseley) welcome the guests and invite them to have dinner. Sooner they are chased by the owner and the maniac The Tin Man and they find that they are trapped in the evil house. Further, for surviving, they lean that they must kill one of them in accordance with The Tin Man's rules. But the mysterious girl Susan (Alana Bale) befriends Jack and advises that if anyone kills, he or she will definitely belong to The Tin Man.

The underrated "House" is a surprisingly entertaining horror tale. The creepy story is not a masterpiece, but I was misled believing that it would be another torture film and not a supernatural thriller. Leslie Easterbrook, in the role of Betty, and Lew Temple, in the role of Pete, are very scary and creepy. The plot is not a masterpiece and does not explain well the presence of Susan, but I liked this movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Jogos de um Psicopata" ("Games of a Psycopath")

Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti are amazing authors, and their book 'House' is still one of my favorite, and one of the (if not the) scariest book I've ever read. The movie was... okay. The initial problem I saw was the fact they tried to fit five-six hours of reading into an hour and a half of film. After watching the movie, I also realized that if you didn't read the book, you'd have absolutely NO CLUE what was going on. None whatsoever. That's a problem. Because I read the book, I was able to keep up with, generally, what was going on, but the film did not do the fantastic book justice. But now onto the movie.

The acting was typical Christian-movie acting. There's an old saying in the Christian Film industry. 'We cannot take the able and make them faithful; we must take the faithful, and God will make them able.' This is no exception. The acting was second-rate, and sometimes not believable. The music was good, and the special effects were pretty great, too, but no 'A-movie' quality. The story, like I said, is non- sense and confusing to those who have not read the book.

Here's the bottom line. If you read the book, go see it. If you haven't, don't. You won't get anything from it.

First of all I want to state that I do not have any strong feelings about Christianity or atheism and I have not read the book nor do I know who the guys directing the movie are, so my opinion of this movie is based only in what I did see on the screen.

And it was alright. Nothing special about this film, really. It's kinda like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre without any gore. People stuck in a house, people running around scared. A bogeyman, the occupants are weirdos etc. So you have seen this before if you're a horror fan. And even if you're not you still seen this before. I have to admit that I did not miss the gore, so the movie delivers somewhat without the gore.

What comes to the actors, it was a mixed mess. Some scenes were good and then some were so silly or so out of this world that you just had to cringe. I have to admit that I only stumbled to this movie because of Michael Madsen. And well, he is always gooood. At acting I mean.

All in all, this is nothing new. If it is a rainy day, you could rent this. But if you really dig horror you might as well rent something better. Like old-school classic "The Haunting" which is really a HORROR movie. This movie here is horror only for those who don't watch horror regularly. Oh, and if someone thinks that the ending is something special or it has some deeper meaning, well haha to you sir. It has been done several times in horror movie history. But maybe it's new to YOU.

Five stars because it's not a bad movie, but it's nothing special either. And the R rating is misleading.

I was kind of looking forward to this movie as it looked like one of those that might make me not be able to sleep for a while. However, I just watched it and the story was interesting but I was not frightened at all.

The acting isn't very good. In most scenes where something intense is supposed to be happening, the actors just seem to overreact. In other cases they don't seem freaked out at all by what's going on. But the worst part about the acting is that the 'evil ones' mostly just make you laugh. It's like watching a comedy that spoofs horror films.

The sound effects also contribute to a negative part of this film. The voices you hear in the background are just too typical. For example, I could swear I had heard the 'laughing child' voice in at least 20 other horror movies.

I really hoped that this film would stand out. Unfourtunately, the story is the only part that's unique. I haven't read the novel but I think it's safe to say that this story is much better imagined than watched on the screen.

3/10 stars. Sadly, it's not worth the watch.