Better Late Then Never

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Keep in mind that I watched House having already read the book by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti. In keeping with what reviewers have already said, the book was exponentially better; it was truly terrorizing, and well-paced with fantastic memorable characters. Frankly put, it was one of the best books I have read and probably one of the top 5 killer thrillers of all time. The spiritual message was also strong and unambiguous. But this is not a review on the book, so moving on ...To be fair, House the movie never had a chance of succeeding since it was crippled by the typical Christian movie low budget. It achieved slightly more than the dreadful Left Behind films, but was much worse than recent religious movies such as God's Not Dead and even Dekker's other famous movie Thr3e.The story of house is horrific and not for the squeamish, but this real terror never came through in the movie. It is not even that scary. The R rating is absolutely absurd; it could have passed for PG if it had come about via mainstream Hollywood. There is no blood, sex, and the only curse is "hell" once. What is the R for? Apparently pure shock value.Michael Madsen is wasted as the psychopathic Tin Man. In the book the killer - otherwise known as Barsidious White - is a terrifying madman and one of the most memorable modern literary villains. But in the movie he is just corny. The mask is horrendously done, his jerky movements are humorous, and the stupid voice overs are reminiscent of a low budget Indie horror flick. The Tin Man never really gets going, and his dialogue is forced and stale.The members of the house are fairly scary, although Betty is a bit stereotypical. Pete makes a decent sex pervert chasing after one of the refugees, and Bill Moseley's excellent performance as Stewart is responsible for at least 2 of the 4 stars I gave the movie.The travelers themselves are fairly lame, although they look the part. As soon as Randy opens his mouth you can tell he is a soap opera dufus. Jack and Stephanie are too attractive to be taken seriously, and Leslie would be a good actor if it weren't for her perpetual cheesy grin. The acting by all four ultimately falls flat.Susan, the angel trapped in the house who ultimately sacrifices her life for the good of the others, is a bright spot about halfway through the movie. True, she is too cute to be taken seriously as a victim of a deranged serial killer, but she plays the part well and is probably the strongest character in the movie besides Stewart. The depth of her sacrifice is not lost on the movie's viewers, even in the midst of the tragically bad filmmaking.The music in the movie is pretty good, but the actual visual effects are pretty lame and the quality of the picture is not so hot. The dialogue falls into soap opera cheesiness at times, but for the most part it is not horrible. The plot is based loosely on the book but is not always representative of the ideals Peretti and Dekker were trying to convey. God is not mentioned much, if at all, and the spiritual side of the story is missing. Keep in mind that the Hollywood depravity of most horror thrillers is also missing, refreshingly.Perhaps this movie would have been better if the directors and producers had not deviated so much from the plot of the novel, and if they had maintained the spiritual aspect of the narrative. The book was dynamic, the movie falls short.Labelled as a horror movie, House is not so much horror as it is blandly scary. The producers throw in some pentagrams and 666's for good measure, but even the Satanism of the house's inhabitants is not that scary. It just seems silly. Without spoiling the outcome of the movie, there is also a fair amount of bloodless killing, but it is somewhat expected and not that shocking.One aspect of the movie I enjoyed was the LOST-esque flashbacks to the "sins" of the four characters. Melissa's death is heart-wrenching, and the revelation that Leslie was raped by her uncle elicits some sympathy for her character. At least the brass behind the movie got this film technique right.Overall, House is not a bad movie, but it is not an especially good one. It falls a tad flat for the most part, but it is worth a watch. Go into it not expecting much, and you should get at least some mild enjoyment out of it. The younger you watch it the more you will like it. And the less experienced of a horror fan you are the more scared you will be.To borrow the story's catchphrase, the only way out is in ...

OK besides two little things, the fact that I had guessed what was going on bc I had seen a similar movie with the exact same idea down to the execution of it, and the finger touching ridiculous part at about 20 minutes before it ends, but besides those two things I thought this movie was really done quite well actually. I am so surprised it has such low ratings!?! Even tho it does have the same plot as that other movie it was still done in a different setting somewhat with different background and keeps you entertained the whole time, I was really intrigued by this film. Like a book you can't put down I was carrying my iPad all over my house til the movie ended.This is very very underrated film, I'm not sure why it doesn't have better ratings but I really liked it and think it deserves at least 7-8 stars. I gave it 9 to bump up score & not 10 bc of the weird finger touch scene that was super cheesy!

I usually don't buy DVDs of movies I've never watched because I don't want to get stuck with bad movies in my DVD collection, but I took a chance with this one and I've somewhat regretted it ever since. Unconnected to the "House" series with William Katt, the movie starts out with a couple whose marriage is on the wane. They're debating divorce when the get lost in the back roads of Louisiana and take directions from a shady local sheriff played by Michael Madsen. He sends them down a long shadowy dirt road in the woods littered with the car parts of previous accidents and eventually lose a tire. While looking for help, they pass the car of another stranded couple and all end up at a very sinister and practically abandoned former bed and breakfast. Leslie Easterbrook from "Police Academy" plays the matroness, the mother of a deranged son and employer of an even creepier caretaker. It seems as if its going to be the start of what's going to be a very good ghost story, but then a storm strands the guests and with him comes a madman who lurks on the roof, promising to leave them alone if someone is killed and tossed outside the door. From there, everything goes off the deep end. The mother, her son and caretaker get creepier, then there's evidence of devil worship and the guests get trapped in the catacombs of the basement reliving the details of their worst memories. Nothing ever gets explained. Is the house haunted? Are they in hell? Are they in purgatory? You just keep wondering when is something going to happen! It's got to be the most psychological blood and gore movie I've ever seen. It might as well be called "Lost" because that's what I felt watching it.

To go away liking this movie... you have to understand that it is more than just a haunted house movie... the house represents something more... it is a personification. It's based from a book "House" which is a Christian thriller... but the book isn't straight forwardly Christian... there is just a lot of undertones and messages and implications... and symbolism... and what not. If you don't understand these things then you may see this movie as pointless movie where people are trapped in a house or something with an unspeakable horror... Then... so you know... the movie really isn't that scary. It is. But on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest) i'd say that it is a 2 or 3. It is creepy, the characters are creepy, the feel and look of the movie is different and somewhat creepy... so in other words the atmosphere of the movie is creepy... but the movie isn't so scary that you will have nightmares. Now... the movie isn't the best... but it is still entertaining to watch and especially fun to watch with girls who get scared and jump easily. There are a few spots that will have you jumping... possibly... I read the book so there were no surprises in the movie except for the ending which was changed up a little... but it wasn't disappointing to me that it was a little different. Don't go into it expecting tons of scares and not being able to go around the house by yourself or anything like that. But you can expect a little bit of entertainment and hopefully you will see what the writer of the book and creator of the movie are attempting to get you to see. Some people will watch the movie and completely overlook that this movie offers food for thought or a message to think about... you may not see it if you're not looking... so be sure to look.