House of Last Things

Clearly most of the people who wrote reviews are friends or family of the director. The flowery language alone is an obvious tell. A few people reviewed it very harshly as a response to the over the top praise. I'll do neither.

This movie has several interesting ideas, some lovely visuals, uneven acting, a mildly incoherent plot and low to middling production values. The best shots are in the first 2 minutes and the last several minutes. The use of classical music makes sense for the plot but at times the stature of the music just underscores the generic quality of most of the filming. It doesn't have the lush beauty required to sell this story.

It wants to be the Shining, the Omen, Blue Velvet or Don't Look Now. It's not. At minimum it would need 10 times the budget to look that good. I believe the director could do more if he had more to work with but the reviews comparing the movie to those things as if they are on the same footing are deeply dishonest. It aspires to those heights and can't begin to reach them. That said, for an unknown horror flick it's pretty good. You get the feeling the director could remake it with real money and a tighter script and knock it out of the park.

What makes a good genre film for me is if the director and writer, in this case one and the same, can immerse me believably into a world I haven't walked before, enough in fact for me to turn off my cell phone. This movie is very seductive in that it doesn't play out within the tired cliché of a creepy old house and keeps you guessing throughout, building something like a narrative maze not unlike the famous Kubrick garden maze in The Shining. However, I don't think it's really fair or correct to compare this director with his obvious linage, Hitchcock, Lynch, DePalma, etc. as mentioned by so many other reviewers. This is a director with a mind of his own, quite willing to go his own way inside a genre that has been sabotaged over the years by too many under-schooled directors flooding the screen with blood and gore indiscriminately. This one surprised me. Much better than I expected.

Not sure how i came across this particular film, whether it was recommended by a friend or found on an IMDb list, but I would like to point out that i am NOT a friend or family member of the film maker, and just spent nearly two hours watching a great film, quite by chance.

Then i came here and read all these terrible reviews, probably from people that think that Die Hard is the pinnacle of intelligent film making. Calling it Lynchian would be unfair to the film maker - only David Lynch is allowed to be Lynchian, anyone else getting that description is usually a pile of crap! Having said that there were definite Lynch moments, although more often than not it reminded me very much of Luis Buñuel more than anyone.

The main thing i found interesting about this was the editing and the way it wafted in between characters / scenarios / continents with the help of a little light classical. These tricks have occasionally been done before, but like i said, not so much since the days of surrealism. They were certainly refreshing for a modern flick, and were effective and occasionally disturbing.

To all the people who talked this interesting film down - there is more than one way to tell a story, it doesn't always have to be literal, and i guess that you're perhaps too stupid to appreciate something more impressionistic? Good luck with the next intallment of Harry Potter.

And thanks to the film maker, can't wait for your next one, or the one after - am fairly sure you have at least one masterpiece in you, maybe more.

I decided to watch this film, on Netflix, with no prior knowledge about it. That probably about as unbiased as one can get.

Honestly, I do not understand how this film got a 6+ rating. I'm sure there's some kind of plot to this, but I didn't understand the film at all. I watched 40 minutes - didn't understand it, but I decided to give it a chance and finish the last hour, and it still made no sense to me.

Overall, it seems like a haunted house possession sort of thing. The writer/director just doesn't seem to have much grip on telling a good story, and I've seen better films with lower budgets. I'm not sure I want to see any more of this guy's work.

The only points I'll give are for some decent acting and creative imagery. 2/10

When Sarah (Diane Dalton) returns home in Oregon from a mental institution, her husband Alan (Randy Schulman), who is a critic of classical music, tells that they will travel to watch operas in Italy since he will write articles about them. Sarah does not want to travel but Alan introduces the hot Kelly (Lindsey Haun) to her telling that she will be the caretaker of the house. When they leave the house, the small-time criminal Jesse (Blake Berris), who is Kelly's boyfriend, unexpectedly arrives at the house. Then Kelly's unintelligent brother Tim (RJ Mitte) arrives to stay with his sister in the house. Kelly had a love affair with Alan and feels comfortable in the house. Meanwhile Jesse steals Alan's convertible to sell to a dealer but he sees the boy Adam (Micah Nelson) alone in the supermarket and decides to bring him home to ransom him despite the protest of Kelly that seeks out his parents. Adam feels good in the house and soon they learn that the house is haunted but they surprisingly stay there. Meanwhile in Italy, secrets are disclosed about the past of Alan, Sarah and Adam and why Sarah had a mental breakdown.

"House of Last Things" is a flawed and weird film with a non- chronological screenplay that explains most of the mysteries and is worthwhile watching. The story is intriguing and disclosed like a puzzle but there is lack of explanation for many things, such as who is the bizarre lady that visits Alan and Kelly; or the reference to the Garden of Eden. The cast has great performances and the unknown Lindsey Haun is very sexy. The final transformation of Kelly and Jesse is certainly inspired in David Lynch. In the end, "House of Last Things" is an original film of haunted house. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available