The Beach House

This is a genuinely creepy low budget horror but the horror is held back by a confusing series of plot points and ideas that are never really tied together. A young couple heads to a family beach house to get away from things only to find an older couple also staying there. They get along okay until a series of strange events seems to lead to an unexplained infection that slowly progresses through the group. Things get a little trippy and the viewer faces the same struggles as the characters finding it difficult to know what is real. There are various possible sources for the infection and its unclear whether they are interconnected or unrelated. One characters explanation of her study goals seems like some Obvious exposition to educate the viewer on a possible source of the infection. The cast were fairly good and they helped to build the creepiness but the direction left things a little too confusing for real horror to build. Worth a watch but could have been better.

The Beach House is a great little horror film that borrows from many other films and books of renown authors like Stephen King and H. P. Lovecraft, there are some elements of Cronenberg's trademark body horror and more.

I don't want to spoil too much, so I'll just go ahead and recommend this film to horror fans, it is well-made and all the ideas that they have borrowed really work in this story.

This film was a pleasant surprise for me since I didn't expect much, and they delivered more than I hoped for.

If you're not into genre movies, this is not for you. And I am not talking about teenagers horrors films, that are filled with cheap jump scares and special effects, that actually don't work at all. This movie is for audiences that enjoy the ride of building an atmosphere, escalating this until you really are ready to its final destination. While this is not an unforgettable horror film, it will really catch your attention and makes you feel uncomfortable again and again from the beginning, where it depicts common yet weird social situations, till the climax and the conclusion of the story, with some scary dreamlike moments. Ignore the low rating given by some viewers and give to this movie a chance.

The reviews for this movie are incredibly inconsistent. However it seems like people are agreeing about certain aspects. Everyone seems to agree with the sentiment that the movie is a slow burn. I personally found the first half of the film to be interesting and it increasingly built tension. Others will say it was boring.

The film is also being hammered on for being mysterious and accused of offering no real explanation as to why certain things are happening. Not true, there are several scenes/conversations that offer theories and possible answers to what is happening. However, the theories are presented indirectly. I personally found the explanations interesting enough.

The climax of the film is ultimately why I recommend this movie. Around the 50 minute mark is when this film separates itself from the pack. There are 2 horrific set pieces in particular that are extremely well shot and present genuine creepy imagery.

The beach house adheres to a lot of the classical sci-fi and horror tropes, it's reminiscent of alien and the mist. But it manages to surprise you enough to keep you entertained and tense. The special effects are well done, the creatures mysterious but familiar enough to make you believe they could exist. The strong female lead and the aesthetics are a plus.