User reviews

Heading to see a marriage counselor, the Singletons (Reynaldo Rosales and Heidi Dippold) blow two tires on an Alabama back road. Looking for help, they stumble upon the isolated Wayside Inn and find another couple there as well. The place is run by a creepy family (Leslie Easterbrook, Bill Moseley, and Lew Temple) and they offer to let everyone stay. After a rather tense dinner, the Singletons try to leave but are confronted by The Tin Man, a masked figure who demands the visitors pay for their various sins.

Based on the book by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti, House was given a limited theatrical release in November 2008. It opened in my area (we're just down the road from The 700 Club), but I didn't go see it. I kind of wish I had as R-rated horror film aimed at Christian audiences isn't likely to happen that often. Director Robby Henson does a good job creating atmosphere (the SAW films were obviously a huge influence) and the production does well masking Poland for rural Alabama. The script is a bit simplistic ("Light destroys darkness" says the angel surrogate character) and the story steals a big page from Carnival of Souls (1962). The supporting cast is good as the crazy family and reads like the line up at a horror convention. To solidify that fact, Michael Madsen also shows up as a cop.

Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti are amazing authors, and their book 'House' is still one of my favorite, and one of the (if not the) scariest book I've ever read. The movie was... okay. The initial problem I saw was the fact they tried to fit five-six hours of reading into an hour and a half of film. After watching the movie, I also realized that if you didn't read the book, you'd have absolutely NO CLUE what was going on. None whatsoever. That's a problem. Because I read the book, I was able to keep up with, generally, what was going on, but the film did not do the fantastic book justice. But now onto the movie.

The acting was typical Christian-movie acting. There's an old saying in the Christian Film industry. 'We cannot take the able and make them faithful; we must take the faithful, and God will make them able.' This is no exception. The acting was second-rate, and sometimes not believable. The music was good, and the special effects were pretty great, too, but no 'A-movie' quality. The story, like I said, is non- sense and confusing to those who have not read the book.

Here's the bottom line. If you read the book, go see it. If you haven't, don't. You won't get anything from it.

First of all I want to state that I do not have any strong feelings about Christianity or atheism and I have not read the book nor do I know who the guys directing the movie are, so my opinion of this movie is based only in what I did see on the screen.

And it was alright. Nothing special about this film, really. It's kinda like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre without any gore. People stuck in a house, people running around scared. A bogeyman, the occupants are weirdos etc. So you have seen this before if you're a horror fan. And even if you're not you still seen this before. I have to admit that I did not miss the gore, so the movie delivers somewhat without the gore.

What comes to the actors, it was a mixed mess. Some scenes were good and then some were so silly or so out of this world that you just had to cringe. I have to admit that I only stumbled to this movie because of Michael Madsen. And well, he is always gooood. At acting I mean.

All in all, this is nothing new. If it is a rainy day, you could rent this. But if you really dig horror you might as well rent something better. Like old-school classic "The Haunting" which is really a HORROR movie. This movie here is horror only for those who don't watch horror regularly. Oh, and if someone thinks that the ending is something special or it has some deeper meaning, well haha to you sir. It has been done several times in horror movie history. But maybe it's new to YOU.

Five stars because it's not a bad movie, but it's nothing special either. And the R rating is misleading.

Let me first say I watched it so you don't have to. House seems to be a film geared to horror movie fans, surfing along on the bet that people are going to appreciate seeing reenactments of familiar scenarios. So familiar in fact that it has a rip off quality to it, which ultimately comes across as lazy. The plot, if there is one, is about four extremely attractive young people, stranded at the same time in a house in the middle of nowhere. When WILL these youngin's learn not to drive their classic cars down dirt roads in the boonies? There's a creepy family out there, just waiting to freak their freaks. The house in question IS pretty cool, I wouldn't mind owning it. It's big and lit with green lights and decorated with serial killer wallpaper. Its basement is enormous and there are serious plumbing problems. Absolutely nothing justifies the R rating, this could have aired on the Sci-fi channel without edits. Was there a bribe on the part of the producers? "Please sir, give us an R, that'll bring 'em in expecting shocks and gore". This movie has a Texas Chainsaw-lite family, suggestions of Satanism, little girl ghost, crazed killer, vaporous black smoke, Spielberg like whispy thingies, gravity defying water, a thunderstorm that appears right on cue, no cell phone signals, several twists, and Michael Madson cashing a paycheck. You'd think, that with all this, there would be something to watch, but no. It goes in many directions, only to switch to another direction with no point, purpose or resolution. Awful.

• This House may cause death by boredom - OK, I watched this movie because the rating on IMDb was above 5 and that's, most of the time, enough for a Horror movie. I mean, come on! "Thir13en Ghosts" has 5 stars!!! it was awful, but at least it was fun!!! I don't expect much of a horror movie but, even so, "House" is a total disappointment.

Predictable, terrible plot, bad acting (even for the average Horror movie) and one of the silliest, worst endings I've ever seen. Even Michael Madsen couldn't save the movie, even when he is perfect for the character and his mere glance is enough to make one nervous.

I'm not going to bore you as this movie did to me. Let's say that if you are looking for a horror flick to watch on a Sunday afternoon, stay away from this one! it is simply boring and a waste of time.

I wish I had read some of the other reviews before giving a chance to this movie. It's sad to say but now I know I don't have to trust the ratings from this page. Go for the reviews instead! ;)

I was kind of looking forward to this movie as it looked like one of those that might make me not be able to sleep for a while. However, I just watched it and the story was interesting but I was not frightened at all.

The acting isn't very good. In most scenes where something intense is supposed to be happening, the actors just seem to overreact. In other cases they don't seem freaked out at all by what's going on. But the worst part about the acting is that the 'evil ones' mostly just make you laugh. It's like watching a comedy that spoofs horror films.

The sound effects also contribute to a negative part of this film. The voices you hear in the background are just too typical. For example, I could swear I had heard the 'laughing child' voice in at least 20 other horror movies.

I really hoped that this film would stand out. Unfourtunately, the story is the only part that's unique. I haven't read the novel but I think it's safe to say that this story is much better imagined than watched on the screen.

3/10 stars. Sadly, it's not worth the watch.

Well, as a guy who occasionally watches movies from the horror genre, i found this movie quite interesting. If you are a person who doesn't like too much gore and blood but need to get ur adrenaline pumping for sometime, then i would suggest you go for it. This is just one of the rare horror movies without all that. Shouldn't be rated R for sure, i feel that quite a few 15 - 17 year olds would also enjoy this movie. The 6 stars are for making a movie for the rare category of people who like horror movies with no gore.

I would have rated it higher but the story made no sense, some of the characters made no sense and i ended up kinda confused in the end with a lot of unanswered questions. Like some of the people commented, the movie does not suck and it isn't too good either. I would suggest watching it if you just want a few thrills without the nightmares that come with them

I didn't even realize this was a Ted Dekker story until the end of the film, which explains a lot. He's also responsible for the "story" in the lame Seven knockoff cleverly titled "Three". He also writes Christian horror, whatever the hell that means. Michael Madsen is usually a recipe for disaster in any movie not titled Reservoir Dogs, and he screws it up here as well. Apparently Christian horror is about as effective as Christian rock. It looks like horror, kinda smells like horror, but it's not really horror. I'm not too religious myself, but being a Christian doesn't mean you have to stomach half-baked garbage like this just because it's written by someone who touts himself as a Christian writer. It's like liking those horrifyingly bad Left Behind books. Don't excuse bad writing just because the writer is a Christian. That's weak sauce. Use your head, people. There is also no reason for this to be rated R whatsoever. I can't remember any swearing and there was hardly any blood considering all the death in the film. There's an interesting concept in the flick somewhere but it gets lost in the shoddy camera-work and hit-or-miss acting that proves everyone involved is not quite ready for prime time. It gets one extra star for the awesome Bill Moseley, though he's wasted in this disappointing wanna-be horror film. Ted Dekker and Dan Brown should get together. Maybe between them they might be able to come up with a fully-functioning story. I said might...

A great clean thriller that will keep you at the edge of your seat. This is more of a PG-13 rated movie than an R rated movie. I highly recommend watching this movie.

While driving through a secondary road for a meeting with a marriage counselor in Montgomery, Alabama, the estranged couple Jack Singleton (Reynaldo Rosales) and Stephanie Singleton (Heidi Dippold) ask for directions to a Police Officer (Michael Madsen) but they have a car accident with a metal part left on the road. Jack realizes that his Mustang has two flat tires and they see an abandoned Beamer parked on the road with the head lights on and flat tires.

Jack and Steph walks in the rain seeking for help. They see an inn where they meet the businessman and owner of the Beamer, Randy Messsarue (J.P. Davis), and his fiancée Leslie Taylor (Julie Ann Emery). Out of the blue, the weird owners Pete ( Lew Temple), his mother Betty (Leslie Easterbrook) and Stewart (Bill Moseley) welcome the guests and invite them to have dinner. Sooner they are chased by the owner and the maniac The Tin Man and they find that they are trapped in the evil house. Further, for surviving, they lean that they must kill one of them in accordance with The Tin Man's rules. But the mysterious girl Susan (Alana Bale) befriends Jack and advises that if anyone kills, he or she will definitely belong to The Tin Man.

The underrated "House" is a surprisingly entertaining horror tale. The creepy story is not a masterpiece, but I was misled believing that it would be another torture film and not a supernatural thriller. Leslie Easterbrook, in the role of Betty, and Lew Temple, in the role of Pete, are very scary and creepy. The plot is not a masterpiece and does not explain well the presence of Susan, but I liked this movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Jogos de um Psicopata" ("Games of a Psycopath")

Jack and Stephanie, a bickering married couple on their way to couples' counseling, get stranded in the woods after two of their tires get a flat. They find themselves at an old hotel to get out of the pouring rain and possibly call for help. There they find another stranded couple, Leslie and Randy, who are the only other guests there. All four soon find themselves meeting the owner's of the hotel who seem slightly off somehow. They decide to make the best of a bad situation until a maniac known as "the Tin Man" who's outside gives them an ultimatum: They all have till dawn to kill one of the four or they all die. They each have to face their inner demons respectively if they wish to survive the night.

The juxtaposition of the term 'Christian Horror' has always struck me as somewhat peculiar as someone who grew up in the 1980's where a good many of the horror offerings had slightly religious morality: you had premarital sex, you died, you did drugs, you died, etcetera, etc. But I digress, this had something most of the self-monikered 'christian' films lacked, good production values. Making it only doubly sad that the film's saddled with such a cliché story, poor characterization, trite dialog, and mediocre acting. I've heard the book is better, as is often the case, but i'm not reviewing the book. And as a film, this ultimately fails.

My Grade: D+

DVD Extras: Trailers for Bella, & The Spirit. That's all, some director's commentary would've been nice but alas no

My message is short and sweet.

This movie does not deserve 8/10... It doesn't even deserve 4/10.

It's simply terrible. Watching this on a lonely night would only make your more lonely and miserable as well as make you question your respect for yourself.

So, do yourself a favor, don't waste your time on it.

Saying that... you may enjoy it if you're in the 11 to 13 age bracket and are looking for a way to kill time.

There you go, that's my vent. Feel free to question my opinion, but remember to be true to yourself and don't get sucked in by the misleading high rating this movie has received.

A couple driving in Alabama gets lost. Why would anyone in their right mind go to Alabama anyway?!! Despite this fact, when an odd looking policeman, after an equally odd accident tells them to go down a certain road, only a fool would listen to him, and our protagonists are not even inbreds! Our protagonist couple meets up with another couple as well as the owners of the freaky guest house and their son, and some young girl with smeared eye shadow. I consider myself to be a man of above average intelligence, and this film had no structure, no real plot, was not scary, and I wanted it to end, one way or another. The introduction of the protagonist couple's dead daughter and other plot lines needed to be developed and the history of the House also required some type of logical explanation to make this film work. If you really hate someone, recommend this film to them.

This movie is not what it seems. For those of you out there who enjoy horror movies, good or bad, you may stumble upon this one and think it looks quite humorous. I admit when i saw the poster with that ridiculous sigil of baphomet I got VERY excited. I thought there was going to be satanic blood orgies like in a Jess Franco movie. The subsequent 90 minutes proved to be quite the contrary.

The movie attempts to start out on a bang, but if you've ever watched a horror movie before than you'll feel it's pretty bland. From there it takes us on a trip with a struggling couple. The husband, an unpublished writer, and the wife, an unsigned country singer. These are immediately two people i couldn't care less about. After we get to know them and their situation a tiny bit the couple get a flat tire and have to make there way to a phone. The believe they've found one when the come across a large house that is now used as an inn.

I could continue but from there an already terrible movie just plummets southward. We get to deal with at least 20 minutes of boring, flashback filled, minutes of the characters dark pasts whilst they try to escape the house they've suddenly been imprisoned within.

I could go on and on about how everything they tried to do hear has been done before and with much greater results. As a horror movie alone this movie is dreadful, but what really pushes it over the edge is the ending.

Now the whole way through this movie, if you bring yourself to watch it, you'll find it rather hard to understand why it's even rated R. It does NOT contain adult language, sexuality/nudity, or even any graphic violence. This is when things really start to dawn on you, and as the movie unfolds you'll realize you've been duped. This is NOT in any way the movie you thought you were going to see. This is a religious film, it may as well have Kirk Cameron in it. The underlying message is painfully obvious. This movie was a trick devised by a religious group to get all of us blood and guts loving sinners to see the error of our ways.

I was disgusted, offended, and downright angry when i left the theater.

I had been waiting for this movie since it was announced it would come out. I am a fan of the book which is just creepy and crazy. I always know that it is seldom that a movie is as good as the book, but this movie killed the book with bordom.

The movie lacked intensity, fear or surprise. The acting was subpar and the editing left many holes in the story leading to a confusing and preachy movie. The characters don't develop during the movie and you are left with a cardboard taste.

Most of the original story line was destroyed and viewers are left with a watered down version of an intense story. The preachy added in parts just took away.

I decided to watch this after seeing the IMDb rating of 7.3. What a mistake that was! Basically two couples end up stranded in a bed and breakfast type house and spend the whole movie trying to figure their way out. Plain and simple, but there isn't anything scary about it. Nothing exciting or fun either.

I appreciate horror and the fact that gore isn't a requirement, take "The Others" for example. No need for nudity or blood or limbs, but that movie still managed to freak me out at times. Or a low budget horror like "Dead End". Equally good story and great acting. House has none of these. Instead, it throws in tons of stupidity. For example, the classic "struggle with an assailant, knock them down but run away while leaving the weapon on the ground next to the enemy" can be found here. This was basically "Prom Night" minus the teens and fancy hotel.

Total garbage...

Getting stranded at a remote, vacant hotel in the woods, two couples find themselves beset by a deranged killer who forces them to confront their inner-most demons buried within them in order to get out alive.

This is an overall quite troubling effort as this really could've been something quite decent but is too heavily flawed to rise above. The biggest issue here is that this one is just way too overall clichéd and familiar to scores of other films where people find themselves trapped at a house or shack in the middle of nowhere that's not what it initially seems at all, and that familiarity makes for this one to simply run through the motions of hitting every single general plot-point without fail. There's the initial meeting with the family that shows them off as general creeps, the scramble throughout the house to secure weapons once the killer arrives and then the play-out with each one forced to confront something troubling from their past which is the main genesis of the film rather than the killers' stalking scenes which are quite problematic since this really only makes a specific point within the film come to pass. If none of these actions that are presented as the most horrific memories and events in their lifetime mean nothing or are not that scary at all, then the film as a whole is just utterly bland and boring during these sequences which is what's presented here. Only one of these events is really all that terrifying and worthy of being that kind of unrelenting psychological torment yet even that is dutifully hindered by the film's Christian morality that comes into play in the final half which is just so problematic that there's almost nothing at all to praise in these scenes. It's all so bland and boring that there's almost a negative impact taken here from the few scares that do occur here which is what's the most troubling part of all this. Those middle scares, especially the frantic search around the house to locate weapons that soon turns into the different torments that are undertaken which comes out of nowhere as this was set-up quite nicely with the human killer in a dark, decrepit house, yet there's a lot to like with these scenes that gets taken away by the unneeded Christian morality that utterly destroys a lot of that.

Rated R: Language, Violence and themes of child molestation.

When I first heard about this film it had lots of promise. I like Michael Madson and the plot seemed like something I might enjoy. I watched this film last night and I regret it this morning.

At no point throughout the film does it explain what is going on and why. The characters just second guess as to what is happening and I was frustrated at the lack of explanation for what was going on.

The character development in this movie was rushed to the point that you did not care either way what happened to them and the characters were also stupid, bland and very gullible.

Miss-Cast of the year has to go to Michael Madson here. He was in the film for all of 5 minutes and he pretty much did nothing within that time.

The main disappointment of the movie and the reason I gave it such a low score is simple. The director does not explain what is going on and why. When I watch a film I want answers and the fact that this film does not give any, ruins it entirely.

In closing, House was a big let down. I don't write many reviews however if I see a film this bad I feel as though it is my duty to warn the public! Please, no sequels!!!

House, which is rated R just for how intense it is, shows just how great the movie really is. From the start of the movie, it pulls you into the story, and keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way to the ending. House isn't like any other Christian-made movie. House may be the start of a new 'genre' of Christian-made movies, showing us just how evil really is, without sugarcoating it. Evil is shown as evil, period. Many people have made the assumption that House is just like "Saw," but they're assumptions are absolutely off-target. The story-line itself, is nothing like Saw. House is deep, intriguing..it will keep you thinking about the it for days after watching. House will not disappoint.

If you wanted to look up the word "clusterfu*k" in a cinematic dictionary, this is the film they would recommend to you. Horrible acting, horrendous editing, and possibly one of the most retarded stories I've ever seen committed to celluloid. There were so many plot holes that my head nearly exploded from the sheer stupidity of the film. And what the hell was Michael Madsen thinking? He's an actor, unlike the rest of the people in this horrid excuse for a film. I actually can't believe he agreed to be in this tripe. My friend told me had several kids to feed, but the shame of receiving a paycheck for working on this project is akin to getting blood money from a drug dealer. Don't let anyone you care about see this movie, you will regret it,