Inhabited

To be honest, I was hoping for this movie to have a lot more bite than it actually had. Watching it, more often than not I thought I was watching something that was made for television. There's no real gore, no swearing, not even any shocks. Even the way the movie has been photographed reminded me of a made-for-television production. But the biggest problem that the movie has isn't really its low-tech feel, but that for almost all of the movie, NOTHING terrifying or creepy happens. The movie feels like it is spinning its wheels over and over by not delivering anything for its horror-wanting audience. Movie is not a complete loss - towards the end of the movie, we are given several special effect sequences that look very impressive for a movie that had a low budget. Had there been more of these special effects throughout, it's possible the movie might have been livened enough to recommend. But as it is, there's not enough to recommend this movie even for a casual viewing experience.

I bought this film from e-bay as part of a lot of about twenty horror flicks, all about a dollar a piece. When watching this, my first impression was that it probably was from the late 80s. Later on I began thinking - the Linkin Park posters on the wall and everything else seemed to hint that I was dealing with a more recent film. Realizing that, the flick became an unbearable torment. The last 3 minutes were the longest in the movie history - the film just refused to end. Is there a genre such as "horror for children"? In that case this film is definitely it. If there are parents, perverse enough to want to introduce their offspring to horror, I suggest this would be perfect for kids of about 6-8. The only thing I really liked was Greg Cipes who was much too good an actor for that kind of nostalgic retro bottom part of a drive-in double-bill.

This little flick is reminiscent of several other movies, but manages to keep its own style & mood. "Troll" & "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" come to mind. The suspense builders were good, & just cross the line from G to PG. I especially liked the non-cliche choices with the parents; in other movies, I could predict the dialog verbatim, but the writing in this movie made better selections. If you want a movie that's not gross but gives you some chills, this is a great choice.

Thanks to silly horror movies like "Troll" and the indescribably atrocious cult-favorite "Troll 2", it has become practically impossible to take movies with kobolds, gnomes and various other types of little green hobgoblins seriously these days. Only just recently I watched the 70's made-for-TV movie "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark", which is basically a quite terrifying and serious-toned film about domestic little goblin monsters, and yet I still couldn't help thinking back about the laugh-inducing potato headed critters dressed in garbage bags that were running amok in "Troll 2". Same thing happened to me now. As much as I tried going into "Inhabited" with a clear mindset, unconsciously I kept comparing the supposedly creepy and menacing garden fairies with the badly sculptured goblins of Nilbog! Still, even without all the prejudices, "Inhabited" is a remotely entertaining albeit unmemorable straight-to-video horror flick. It's a cheesy, soft and politically correct pastiche of family drama and Northern Europe mythology. The annoying and murderous little creatures in this movie aren't your plain average goblins; they are "The Huldre": wicked little Norwegian demons that live underground and attempt to chase happy families out of their houses through influencing the youngest children. This overcomes the Russell family as they move into their ramshackle dream house in a remote little town. The cherubic blond daughter of MILF-actress Megan Gallagher starts to behave strangely whenever she hangs out in the cute play house in the back of the garden. She claims her friends are fairies, and even though the sinister handyman also warns for strange occurrences in the past, Gina's parents simply think the girl has troubles adjusting to her new neighborhood. When she keeps rattling about fairies, they arrange an appointment with the acclaimed psychologist Dr. Werner whilst "The Huldre" are slowly coming out of their botanical shelter. Not much special to mention here. The pace is acceptable and the attempts to build up suspense are pretty cute. You understand this is a family-friendly horror movie, so no bloody murder sequences are graphically being shown here. Heck, even the cadaver of the family's pet cat is kept off-screen. This is the umpteenth nonsensical horror movie in which Malcolm McDowell pops up and he practically always depicts an unreliable, greedy and self-centered authority figure.

When the Russell family invests all their savings and move to a huge old house, their young daughter Gina (Sofia Vassilieva) claims to have some small new friends, The Huldre, living in the doll house in the yard. Her reluctant mother believes it is fruit of Gina's imagination, but finally she accepts the advice of the schoolteacher and takes the girl to the psychiatrist Dr. Werner (Malcom McDowell). In the end, the family realizes that there are many Trolls living nearby their house. "Inhabited" is almost a good movie. The story has a good atmosphere, but the effects of the monsters are very poor and the conclusion of the plot is not good. In the end, "Inhabited" is nothing but a conventional horror B-movie of haunted house. One of the best movies about Trolls that I have seen is "Cat's Eye (1985)", in the module with a young Drew Barrymore. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa Do Medo" ("The House of the Fear")