Alex Spindler
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2000
- Messages
- 3,971
I'm going to have to go against the grain here and say that I think it was a good effort.
Let me qualify that by saying that I went in trying to like the film despite the nearly unanimous negative response to it.
I found it to be creepy, funny, and at times disturbing. I will completely admit that it was derivative of so many other films, but I took that to be more of an homage or tribute than a dishonest rip. To be fair, I would consider this to be a near remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre : The Next Generation rather than of the original TCM. In the original TCM, the nightmare universe seemed to be the honest product of a deranged mind. In TCM : TNG, the characters and the locations all felt totally manufactured. House feels the same way. The characters feel pretty artificial, but I must admit that I was still somewhat unnerved by a few of the situations (especially the completely contrived zombie lake attack that destroys the coffin). Sid Haig as Cpt. Spaulding was quite good in my opinion and was probably the only bright spot as far as acting.
I was somewhat relieved to see a horror film as mean spirited and nihilistic as this one, which is a bit of a return to the type of thing I haven't seen since Event Horizon. If its any indication, the audience was very quiet after the 45 minute mark and clapped at the end. This obviously wasn't the latest spin of the Friday the 13th or Halloween series.
Now that isn't to say the movie isn't free of problems. Outside of the lack of originality, the use of negative and low res camera footage was used a bit too often (although it did help to build the mood of the situation). He also uses the "innocent music playing over the horrors" at least once too often. A good deal of the gore happens only off camera, which is a shame given the build up to it. However, some of the scenes in low res were much more effective because it felt like watching some forbidden bootleg footage.
I think it was a worthy effort, built from a sincere desire to deliver a horror film in a way that hasn't been seen in a long time. I can only hope that this may inspire someone else to try a similarly serious approach with a more original situation and style.
Let me qualify that by saying that I went in trying to like the film despite the nearly unanimous negative response to it.
I found it to be creepy, funny, and at times disturbing. I will completely admit that it was derivative of so many other films, but I took that to be more of an homage or tribute than a dishonest rip. To be fair, I would consider this to be a near remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre : The Next Generation rather than of the original TCM. In the original TCM, the nightmare universe seemed to be the honest product of a deranged mind. In TCM : TNG, the characters and the locations all felt totally manufactured. House feels the same way. The characters feel pretty artificial, but I must admit that I was still somewhat unnerved by a few of the situations (especially the completely contrived zombie lake attack that destroys the coffin). Sid Haig as Cpt. Spaulding was quite good in my opinion and was probably the only bright spot as far as acting.
I was somewhat relieved to see a horror film as mean spirited and nihilistic as this one, which is a bit of a return to the type of thing I haven't seen since Event Horizon. If its any indication, the audience was very quiet after the 45 minute mark and clapped at the end. This obviously wasn't the latest spin of the Friday the 13th or Halloween series.
Now that isn't to say the movie isn't free of problems. Outside of the lack of originality, the use of negative and low res camera footage was used a bit too often (although it did help to build the mood of the situation). He also uses the "innocent music playing over the horrors" at least once too often. A good deal of the gore happens only off camera, which is a shame given the build up to it. However, some of the scenes in low res were much more effective because it felt like watching some forbidden bootleg footage.
I think it was a worthy effort, built from a sincere desire to deliver a horror film in a way that hasn't been seen in a long time. I can only hope that this may inspire someone else to try a similarly serious approach with a more original situation and style.
.
