The House on Pine Street

After reading so many negative comments on the IMDb message board, I was very skeptical about watching this film at the local cinema. But I decided to go against all of the negativity and give this film a chance and I'm very glad I did so.

I was the only one in the entire theater (which is always a plus for me as I hate the annoying moviegoers using their cell phone or having a loud conversation with one another).

So this movie is not your run of the mill 'Horror' that Hollywood is churning out these days with the usual creature make ups and jump scares. For me, none of that is scary. It never makes me feel uneasy. It's rather just a cheap ploy to make the viewer jump the same way a child might do by hiding behind a corner and scream boo!.

This movie is a rather fresh take on the entire paranormal phenomenon and it lets the viewer decide what they think is taking place and whether or not it is real. The story made me connect with the protagonist, the husband and even the mother in law at the same time making me change my mind about each one of them throughout.

Of course it uses the typical "husband won't believe what the wife tells him" but it is used in a very clever way.

I do not want to give away too much but I thought It would be good to give my two cents on the review section and let people know that there was never a dull moment in the film for me. The shots were tasteful, the acting was very good and the 'horror' bits were unsettling without the use of cheap tactics.

At the end of the film, I was very pleased and I would recommend it to any true fans of the supernatural/psychological horror genre. Not recommended for fans of Jump Scare Horror. It's a solid 8/10.

It is not a masterpiece, but it's a great little film.

I swear, some day I'm going to write a script for a horror movie where the significant other actually believes, listens to, and respects the person who is clearly being terrified by something. This movie is exhausting and frustrating.

An unsettled couple with a baby on the way move back from the city to the wife's hometown, but she dreads their new home while everyone else thinks she's crazy.

Dialogue heavy psychological ghost story with problems in script, direction, editing and pace. The stand out feature is the photography and framing of shots, where a lot of care and intelligence is on show from the start. The dialogue is often too much or just trite, and many scenes start too early or end too late, and some of the cut aways or inserts in the editing are pointless. There is a good house warming scene, lively and well observed, but that's about it.

The biggest problem is that the ghost story doesn't measure up to the psychological drama, with no drive to it - comparable to The Babadook - and the director's overuse of jump scares is feeble. And 111 mins? 20 too many.

The parts are well played, with the lead actress giving good close up and the mother and psychic showing their experience, but sometimes the actors struggled with the dialogue and the lack of motivation within the story.

The music is good but nothing outstanding.

Overall - frustrating to see so much quality serving a weak story.

While I'm no movie expert, I am a horror fan and not easily scared. Sadly, there's so long between a horror movie which really delivers, but this one did rather well I thought. What makes it all the more joyful, is the lack of reliance on special effects. It's well paced and uses the art of suggestion rather than cheep jump-scares, a style I appreciate. Furthermore, I found myself sympathizing greatly with the female protagonist, another key element in a good horror movie. This movie keeps the viewer speculating and guessing until the end, which I find is the turning point of a scary movie. Nothing is more scary that the unknown, as we well know. This brings me to the only regret I have about this movie, -the ending. I won't reveal anything, but as most suspense movies, the ending leaves the viewer a bit disappointed. I for my part can forgive the movie for this, since it relates to the point above. It's the unknown which is most scary, the sum of possible explanations. As soon as the movie settles on one specific explanation, most of the suspense is diffused. Don't let this keep you from viewing the movie though. I promise, it postpones the inevitable solution as long as possible. All in all; no masterpiece, but delivers as a horror movie.

Eerie, atmospheric and at times genuinely unsettling, its a respectable addition to the haunted house genre. The movie is probably a little too long at just under two hours, but the viewers patience during the slow build up is rewarded with some chilling scenes, added to greatly by the movies creepy sound effects which are utilized extremely craftily. The lead actress, Emily Goss, does a fine job of portraying a tortured individual, akin to the mother in The Babadook, a very different type of haunted house flick. The film makers seem to have made the most of an obviously limited budget and for the most part avoid the usual clichés/tropes movies of a similar nature often surrender to.