LA CASA (The House) is a nifty little haunted house feature from Chile that dares to put practically the entire movie on the shoulders of its protagonist. Apart from rather superfluous footage of film-making crews roaming the house bookending the movie, it gives a real-time account of a Chilean cop in 1986 who responds to a disturbance call and enters a house with gruesome and reputedly demonic history (without knowing about its past).
When there is only one character for most of the duration of the movie, the quality of the acting becomes paramount, but fortunately the actor does a really convincing job of portraying an increasingly terrified cop trapped in the lair of a demon that seems to know his darkest secret.
The increase in tension is very deliberate and the atmosphere is well-executed. There is a twist at the end which was not entirely unforeseeable-it reminded me of a twist in MEMENTO (2000)- but it adds an interesting political dimension which for some reason the film-makers seemed reluctant to explore.
Chile was a military dictatorship between 1973 and 1990, and I would have welcomed a more fleshed-out treatment of this issue, since the film-makers decided to make it an aspect of the movie. It is quite short as is, and if extra time was needed, the bookend footage could have been eliminated with little loss to the integrity of the whole.
The film takes a simple idea and executes it well. It could have elaborated more on the various elements it touches upon, and I think that would have elevated it, but for people looking for a quick diversion barely over an hour long, this bare-bones haunted house story will be fine.
