'The Charnel House' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster, an intriguing idea and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.
Found the film to be pretty weak with a lot more wrong than right. 'The Charnel House' is not great, or good, has a fair share of problems (fairly big ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There are however a few decent, even good, qualities in 'The Charnel House', at least it wasn't intelligence insulting or inept (unlike some films seen recently) though the potential was never lived up to.
Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric, likewise with the very nice way it's shot. The music is suitably spooky and quirky and doesn't distract at all from the atmosphere, while not exactly enhancing it.
'The Charnel House' started off fairly spookily.
However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained. The more 'The Charnel House' progressed, the duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary it got, and too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it.
Acting is never amateurish, there has been far worse acting before and since and at least they try with limited material and sketchy, dull and clichéd characters, but nobody is note-worthy.
Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the second half and never is it exciting. Found the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense, and the end felt not much of a climax.
In conclusion, pretty weak but not unwatchable. 3/10 Bethany Cox
