House (1985)

“*Damn*! Come back from the grave and ran out of ammunition. ” – Skeleton Big Ben

Number of Times Seen – At least twice (Cable in the 80’s and 6 Jul 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A writer inherits a house from his aunt which may or may not be haunted.

My Take on it – As most of you probably already know, I a not a big fan of horror films, yet every so often, I check one out just to see what they are all about.

This is a movie that I remember seeing on cable when it came out yet didn’t recall anything about it at all.

This is actually a pretty strange horror film IMHO and it didn’t work for me at all.

William Katt is a fun actor, but he plays a character who takes things too seriously here and despite trying quite hard, he isn’t able to make his character, his past and his demons feel more plausible and realistic here.

The thing I loved the most here is the supporting cats because we get to see fun roles by TV faves of the 80 – George Wendt and Richard Moll.

The story itself fails to flow well and things come across too strange and choppy.

Things sometimes feel like something out a Stephen King story, but they squander a few key plot points that might have been better in the hands of the master of macabre.

Unfortunately, this film isn’t able to find a way to stay interesting throughout and it just chugs along in a pretty mediocre and boring fashion.

Bottom Line – Strange horror film that just doesn’t work well enough. Katt is a great actor but he isn’t able to make this character, his past and his demons feel more realistic here. Love the supporting cast with Moll and Wendt playing some very eccentric characters. The story doesn’t flow well enough and even though it does feel like a Stephen King kind of story, it doesn’t manage to find a way to stay interesting enough to care about what happens.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Like several horror films of the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s, one of the major themes of this film is the mental trauma of the Vietnam War that is re-lived and dreamt of by its protagonist. This can largely be attributed to the recognition of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in 1980 by the American Psychiatric Association and an increased popular understanding throughout those decades of PTSD symptoms, e.g. nightmares, flashbacks, etc., as well as an increasing number of Vietnam veterans who committed suicide as a result of their wartime experiences. Thus in many ways, films like House reflect a change in national consciousness as war ceased being depicted as a glorious event and began to be seen as a harrowing and traumatic experience. (From IMDB)

Rating – Razzie Worthy (2/10)