Fresh and Exciting

The acting in this movie is really good.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I have read the book. It is a really good book, not a religious book, it has a great story that give you the chills and at the same time gives you a beautiful perspective of Gods love and forgiveness. But I just saw this movie and, as always, the book is better. I didn't like this movie, it has a good choice of cast but really bad acting, bad way of telling the story, everything happen to fast and without any explication, and bad effects. M. Madsen does what he does well, being the same character on Kill Bill or Reservoir Dogs... My advice? read the book first. Because if you watch the movie first, you will never read the book, because of how bad this movie is. P.S: The book is awesome.

Jack and Stephanie (a writer and a singer) drive in Alabama. Jack is driving too fast, and a cop passes him. The cop had gone ahead to block off part of the road next to an accident. Jack runs over some of the cop's cones, so they have a conversation. Jack asks for the quickest way back to the Interstate, and the cop gives them a shortcut. This turns out very badly: there is a car partially blocking the dirt road, and a do-it-yourself spike strip over the rest of the path. So, they are in the middle of nowhere with two flat tires and one spare.Jack and Stephanie find a house with lights on inside, which looks promising. There is a guest register. Randy and Leslie (grad student in psychology, and a real estate developer) are the other involuntary 'guests,' who also ran over the same sharp iron and got flats on their BMW. Shortly after the two couples start exploring, the electricity goes out, and the men go looking for the generator.The owners, Stewart and Betty, plus son Pete, greet them and give them some so-so news, like indifferent telephone service, no likelihood of tow trucks coming in the night, and 20 USD/person to stay the night. Pete does fix the electricity, and Betty sets a nice table.At the dinner, the weirdness starts. The ice is impossibly cold, visions start showing up, the owners are rather menacing. When Leslie tries to leave, a menacing figure shows up at the front lawn. Betty is rather discouraged, and asks them what they did in order to bring forth the Tin Man. Leslie starts reading newspaper clippings glued to a wall, recounting an accident some years past.Betty identifies the figure as the Tin Man. She says that he comes only for the guilty. The Tin Man drops in a tin can with rules on it. They need to deliver a body to the Tin Man by morning, or else he will kill all of them. Stewart and Betty attempt to lock the quartet in the meat locker, but they fight back.So, do any of the protagonists survive? Just who are Stewart, Betty, Pete, and Tin Man, anyway? Do the guilty secrets of the young quartet surface? What secrets are contained in the house? -----Scores-----Cinematography: 7/10 Too dark, with focus a bit too soft.Sound: 5/10 A bit hollow at times. Also, the synchronisation between actors' lips and spoken words is off, giving the impression that the whole thing is dubbed without sub-titles.Acting: 6/10 Not great, but better than in many similar films. Lew Temple, Leslie Easterbrook, Bill Moseley, and Michael Madsen were fine, though Madsen's role was rather short.Screenplay: 5/10 Familiar themes with not much original, though the ending did seem to be borrowed from another genre. The story does move right along.

6.5/10 Most adults are familiar with the old hit song "Hotel California" by the Eagles, but not as many are aware of the dual interpretation of its' meaning. "Hotel California" was the whimsical nickname ascribed to Charles Manson's infamous kill-cult, but additionally it's a very clear metaphor for hell. Lyrics enchant us with phrases such as "We are just prisoners here, of our own devise" and "you can check out any time you'd like, but you can never leave". You will see exactly how those words are played out within this film. The four guests within this story are about to experience their own personal versions of hell where they are forced to relive their most torturous moments and face becoming trapped within them forever. Each person has been overwhelmed by guilt, regret, or shame at some point in time, so none are exempt from the maniacal torments that the house imposes upon them. The story begins familiarly, with an argumentative couple traveling through unfamiliar rural territory. Mishaps occur and they become stranded on the road and their cell-phones have no service...of course. A short walk through torrential rain brings them to a large, gated inn. Inside, they are met by another couple who've also been stranded by the roadside. The four-some discover a formal dining table already set for four and shortly after-wards, the power goes out so the men set forth to find the fuse-box. About that time, their hosts make themselves known, and these hosts are immediately creepy as hell itself. Madness ensues mid-dinner, so grip your seats and hold tight for this fast-paced thriller! ---------------I get the impression that this film intends to be smarter than it actually is. It's sort of like a 3rd grader who managed to cheat very well and is skipped forward to middle-school like a lamb to slaughter. I think that the writer and director, whilst VERY GOOD at their craft, undertook a project that was perhaps a bit too advanced per their experience levels. It seems attempt psycho-horror, but only manages so within the characters as it relates to the story.The story is original, although it pays some obvious homage to horror and thriller films of the not-so-old. Think of House of 1000 corpses and House on Haunted Hill and about half a dozen other semi-recent films of this genre and the filmmakers inspirations become quite clear. This isn't a fault necessarily, it just means many of the genre fans aren't going to be as intrigued as "popular viewers" may be. I thought that the camera and editing was an A+ endeavor. Set & costume maybe a B. Dialogue and presentation a solid B, FX a C+. Sound quality and lighting is an A. So really, high ratings all-around, especially so for a lesser-known film that encountered budget restrictions. The characters were fairly-well developed, and the pacing was nearly ideal (a bit aggressive at times). The acting was average to above-average, with a few shining moments from particular actresses. Flashbacks, though necessary (and normally obtrusive) were minimal and provided the audience with just enough of an "Oh, uh-huh!". I'm glad to have found this little jewel and to have invested some of My Friday watching it. Suggested watching is alone or with a close friend/partner. Kick the kids out, turn down the lights and settle down with a cocktail and bucket of popcorn. I recommend it if you're not seeking out a blockbusting hit type of night.

In the intro a husband kills his wife in a house. Later a couple are driving in the mountains. His driving is suicidal and his behavior irrational. They are driving to couple's therapy somewhere far away. They run into a strange cop and an accident scene. Then they get two flat tires when he drives over some junk. Another disabled car is nearby. It starts pouring and they find shelter in an inn. No one from the staff shows up but they meet another couple who owns the other disabled car. Finally a strange lady shows up who convinces them to stay. She invites them to dinner with the rest of her weird family- a guy who keeps telling the other girl that she's pretty and some violent guy who abuses the rest of the family. Suddenly some crazy guy tries to break into the house. It's tin man. He's got a thing for tins and warns everyone inside that they've got to kill someone or all will die.The family unmasks itself as being completely nuts now, and the couples run away and hide throughout the house. They discover walls with pentagrams. The family turns out are a bunch of satanists. And now suddenly supernatural things start happening. All four will have to face their fears. The first couple ignored their daughter while she went skating on a lake and died. The other guy killed his abusive dad, and the girl was molested as a child by her uncle. One of the guys finds a girl locked up and this girl will guide them, of sorts. The identity of tin man is revealed as well as all the elements shown in the intros are explained. The resolution also involves the supernatural. There is somewhat of a twist. And when you think it's all worked out there is another twist that makes everything pretty pointless.House unfortunately has nothing to do with the 80s hit movie. This one is pretty lame and uninteresting. Supernatural elements rarely work in movies and it doesn't in this one. The whole face-your-fears thing is getting boring in horror movies, especially when nothing comes out of it, as with this movie. Crazy southern families we have seen a couple times too many in movies. Tin man is supposed to be some scary threatening guy, but he doesn't do anything. When you mix all that together you don't have a whole lot really. House has decent acting and direction, the girls are attractive, but the story is unsatisfying and there is no character to care for.