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.

This is without a doubt one of the worst horror movies that I have had to suffer through, so I guess the label 'horror' was accurate in that sense, but in the sense of it being a scary movie, not so much.

"Stormhouse" starts off with indicating "This film was inspired by real events". Yeah, then that makes me Elvis Presley incarnated. So they want us to believe that the British military had managed to capture a spirit entity from the afterlife? And to make matters even worse, keep it secured in a small fenced yard? Right! Lets see, spirit entities are incorporeal and ethereal, meaning they would be able to traverse in any direction and even through solid matter. But still, the director wanted us to believe that a chain-linked fence (without a roof) was sufficient to hold such a supernatural entity at bay?

Moving on. And for a military base, it is without a doubt the most unlit installation in the history of military bases. I have never seen such lack of lighting anywhere. And I found it highly unrealistic and questionable that a military force would keep their base shrouded in perpetual darkness. And it just didn't help the movie one bit either, as most of the time we can hardly see what is going on because of the poor (well, lack of) lighting in almost every scene.

As for being a 'horror' movie, then "Stormhouse" was really a major disappointment, as there were no scares in it at all - probably because we couldn't see what was going on as there wasn't sufficient lighting anywhere. And also, the entire story was just so very implausible that it didn't work out on any level.

I am a big fan of horror movies, and I do like supernatural movies, but this one was just too much waste of time and effort. There are far better ghost movies available on the market. Actually, you might even be better off (and more entertained) by movies such as those awful "Paranormal Activity" movies. But still, they were better than this one.

One thing that "Stormhouse" had working for it, though, was the people they had cast for the various roles. Most of them actually did good enough jobs in acting, but nothing really memorable here though.

It wasn't very far into the movie before I started to do other stuff while the movie was playing; SMS texting and cleaning up the living room. The story in "Stormhouse" is just unfathomable uninteresting and unappealing. If you like horror movies or ghost movies, "Stormhouse" might not be a good choice. I was bored senseless.

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!

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 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.