House

Now available on DVD

Cast:



Reynaldo Rosales as Jack



Heidi Dippold as Stephanie



Bill Moseley as Stewart



Michael Madsen as Sheriff/Tin Man



Leslie Easterbrook as Betty

Directed by Robby Henson

Review:

Back in November, when House received a limited theatrical release, there seemed to be a little confusion about it. Was this really a rated-R Christian horror movie? If so, isn’t that a tad oxymoronic?

While House indeed is rated R and it is a horror movie, the Christian aspect is more ambiguous. It is based on a novel by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. The latter is also responsible for Three, which was turned into a movie back in 2006. When I spoke to Dekker prior to the release of House last year, he explained that the Christian author label is misleading and something he does not subscribe to. According to Dekker, his books are about the confrontation between good and evil, which often happens to be quite horrific.

So if you have considered viewing House but worried about getting a sermon, fear not. While God is mentioned a few times and a Bible verse precedes the movie, religious messages are not overtly pressed. Essentially it is about a very black and white struggle between good and evil. Ultimately that is what prevents it from being effective; it is too simplistic and dull.

On their way to a marriage counseling session, Jack (Reynaldo Rosales) and Stephanie (Heidi Dippold) get lost. Their bickering makes it clear why they were headed to a therapist. After getting directions from a police officer (Michael Madsen), they find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere during a storm. Spotting an old house, Jack and Stephanie hope to find a phone and get back on the road.

Before long, Jack and Stephanie (along with another couple) discover that they will not be going anywhere. Someone called the Tin Man is outside the house, desperately trying to get in. He is evil itself and claims to have killed God. The only way any of them will get out alive is if he gets a dead body by morning. It is one of his house rules. As they struggle to escape the Tin Man and find a way out of the house, the two couples are confronted by dark secrets from their past.

Though the production values are good and the acting is decent, even at 88 minutes House is a bore. Watching four people walk around a dark house for over an hour gets tedious in a hurry. Nothing particularly scary ever occurs and you can easily figure out exactly what is going to happen long before it does.

The good and evil angle is extremely one-dimensional, as if the world transparently consists of nothing but one or the other, with the choice between the two being an obvious one if you have half a brain in your head. There is never any doubt as to whom or what is evil or good. If you’re going to hold my hand and do all the work for me, telling me exactly what to think, that doesn’t make for very interesting viewing.

To add insult to injury, there is a lot of hokey dialogue, including lines like, “He’s as frightened as a jackrabbit.” Also, don’t let the rating fool you. While there are intense moments dealing with heavy subjects, the R rating is questionable at best. There is no gore and little blood present. When all is said and done, the debate about whether or not House is a Christian horror movie is irrelevant. It isn’t a good horror movie, and that is a much bigger issue.