patricklyndenactor

This film is not bad at all, I have to state that. I'm not going to rant and say this was a waste of time because it certainly was not.

I loved the opening of the movie - the whole tragedy that strikes and the way that it unfolds did shock me as i wasn't particularly expecting it. The concept of somebody buying houses that have seen tragedies happen inside them and then removing sections of the houses was a very intriguing idea.

The noir vibe that the film had going was interesting and some shots were beautiful, such as the one outside of Allie's house during the night. The film was well shot.

So why do I feel it wasn't well executed? Well, the second half just became a tangled mess of ideas that in my opinion, didn't lead to any sort of interesting climax. I couldn't even write down and fully explain what the main villain was even doing building the house or his reasons for it. The film hinted that he has seen horrific things but I just think they didn't fully develop the idea of the film enough. I think a stronger tying up of his motivations and what exactly the structure is would have been far more interesting.

I also didn't particularly like any of the characters. This is essential for me in a film, but the lead character, Julia, started off quite feisty but soon became a little bit cardboard cut out. There wasn't, in my opinion, much development beyond "you killed my family and now I want to know why". Her boyfriend/friend/fling/lover was slightly more interesting as a character because of his desire to follow her to the very end but again, there wasn't much development for him beyond that. I have to say though that I enjoyed the performances. Whilst there wasn't amazing chemistry between the two leads, they were very capable and Lin Shaye was fascinating as Allie.

A decent stab at something original, which i am grateful for,and even though i think its worth a watch, i don't think i will feel the need to watch this again.