Stormhouse

OK, so first of all the idea for this movie is great. I think the writer did a great job to come up with something original and yet very much within a horror movie genre. It had all the right horror clichés and yet had some bits we had never seen before. Is it a great movie? Not by a long shot, it feels cheap in places and some effects are bad quality. However there are moments when the obvious lack of resource adds to the fact it feels quite real. I thought the American actors who play Hayley and Mr Faber were the best in the movie, along with the British guy who played the major, by a yard stick! The rest were not interesting enough, I do not know if that's down to the writing, or the actor but I guess ultimately I want to blame the Director here. There is also one British guy who appears to be dubbed throughout the movie, an older character but because of this, it really jerks you out of the film. Fortunately he is not in the picture long enough. I read one of the user reviews saying it was too dark, I didn't agree. I thought the fact that the movie was dark was a real plus. I found it quite scary throughout but I do agree the sounds quality is just plain bad! I thought the moment when all the soldiers are singing the nursery rhyme and clapping was a little laughable but there were some genuine scares in here. Quite a few to be honest. And some nice twists in there too! Is it going to be the kinda movie that sets the world alight, I very much doubt it, it just doesn't have the full package. The quality is just not there. It was a refreshing piece though and worth a look for sure. I like scary and this movie had scary.

Story/Writing: It's a pretty solid claustrophobic story. It's interesting and generally well-written, with only a few "What the heck?" moments. The dialogue is generally good, though the minor characters are fairly stock, interchangeable, and pretty forgettable. One or two of them almost come through sometimes as interesting in their own right, but then the moments are gone. Still, it all works pretty well, and the pace was okay, which is better than most films. And I believe the ending worked. I liked it. (7/10)

Direction/Acting: It's atmospheric, to be sure, just sometimes a bit too dark to see what's going on on-screen. Considering the budget and likely time constraints they were under, I can understand why they made the choices they did. Still, however, a bit too dark too often. The pace was generally good, with only a few short lulls (and they weren't distracting). (6.5/10)

The acting was pretty good across the board, though it seemed the supporting cast's characters were limited by either the script or the director's choices on pacing and story... or possibly both. It was obvious the talent was there, and more from the supporting cast really could've livened things up for tension, in my opinion. It could've given it that feel they were looking for, the atmosphere from John Carpenter's "The Thing". Stormhouse's ensemble cast were good, the main cast in particular. I kept wanting more, though, and that's the biggest drawback for my money. (5/10)

I'm going to try and keep this simple. I saw Stormhouse at Frightfest festival last August and it was my favourite film out of all I viewed (though I would highly recommend 'The Woman'.) Considering the budget was so low, the special effects were excellent and it made me jump a few times - I am a massive horror fan and hardly ever have to cover my eyes when I watch a film but there was a certain scene which I won't describe (don't want to spoil anything) that I still can't get out of my head. It's a fairly gruesome affair, which in my books is great (the more blood the better) What first attracted me to the film was the connection with the invasion of Iraq, I am fascinated with any films to do with war (my favourite being The Deerhunter) but with Stormhouse I got soldiers and a supernatural entity. WIN.

The acting is high quality (especially loved Grant Masters' character)I don't want to reveal anything but you may be surprised by the ending which, in my opinion is a good thing. Who wants a film to be predictable? It is a truly good British film and I actually walked out of a couple of big budget horror films during the festival as they were mediocre and not scary at all.

Plus, the writer of the film actually came in front of the audience before the film started and explained how the ideas came about and introduced it, which I thought was great and made you appreciate the viewing even more.

I haven't kept this simple at all have I? Oh well. Sorry! Watch Stormhouse, seriously, British horror films do not get enough publicity and this one in particular is one that should be watched. I probably wouldn't watch it alone though!

Brought on-board a secret military base, a woman's attempts to investigate their supposed capture of a supernatural entity causes chaos on the base when it's accidentally released and goes on the rampage, forcing her to try to stop it.

This turned out to be quite a dreadful and really uninteresting effort without a lot really going for it. One of the only positives to this is the frankly original plot line concerning the capture of such an entity and what means is being done to control and contain it. Being able to remain controlled in a small enclosure with electronic impulses makes for a rather unique touch and allows this a pretty original touch that doesn't really get used all that often yet here makes some sense as the military would be one of the few places in the world where access to such material isn't out of the ordinary and seems pretty plausible throughout here. As well, the final half here tends to focus on the body-hopping means that the ghost employs to seek out revenge on the base for it's imprisonment and that leads to some mildly-tense sequences where it's in someone unexpectedly causing them to engage in all the horrific ideas and acts quite nicely. However, there's a lot really wrong here with the fact that this one tends to use a pretty hackneyed and cliché motive of the powers-that-be being unwilling to provide much in the way of explanations that would help this one be a little more understandable. Considering this is par for the course from the military, that's not all that out of the realms of realism where disinformation and withholding is pretty much par for the course in their history but here it just leads to endless scenes of her trying to actually do her job that she was specifically called there for yet keeps coming up with the bull-headed and refusal tactics from the military brass there which really begs the question of why she would want to stay there when what she's seen and been exposed to from their attitudes toward her would seem to really question why it was included in the first place. As well, this tends to really affect the pace of this with numerous scenes that go nowhere due to their refusal as well as tends to cause this to feel like a drag with hardly anything happening which is quite a common trait in many of the recent British efforts so this is no exception. Finally, the low-budget on display throughout this tends to cause the attacks to come off as quite lame and really ridiculous with hardly any real effort put into them, the special effects aren't that great and overall the film's centerpiece scenes are pushed so far into the back-half of the film it's too little too late as well as being plagued by ineffectiveness. These hold this back and really harm it overall.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

I sat through this biting my lip, not through tension, but from just sheer embarrassment. The acting was reasonable, but the lighting was disastrous, it looked cheap on every level.

The only good thing about a film like this is the actors can hide their faces and simply pick up their paycheck after they've finished with performing this rubbish. For a film of this 'quality' you obviously hire a cheap writer, who fortunately for them will always be able to remain anonymous, especially as they are irrelevant to the structure of the piece.

Whoever wrote this should go away for a long time and read a bit of Syd Field and learn the craft before ever putting pen to paper again. No need to go into story here, as it's been covered previously.

It saddens and angers me that with so much talent out there, a group of individuals can come together and gain funding for this kind of atrocity. No wonder the British Film industry struggles if this is the best it can come up with. I wasted a few hours, I suppose I should not grumble, at least I had the time to waste and can use this as a demonstration on how not to write a screenplay and tell a story.

Harsh I know, but this is a warning to others. Avoid Stormhouse like the plague, although the plague is a better option.