I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

A cool creepy story about, well its more about a house than anything else, or more like the creepy things that go on in it. It starts with the arrival of a home care nurse named Lily, and she's there to care for Iris Blum, a horror novelist nearing the end... And seeing that Lily is the ultimate scaredy-cat, moving into an big, very old house, occupied by a horror writer, well seems weird. But Lily goes for it, and as she cares for Iris, Iris starts calling her Polly... a character from one of her novels, The Lady in the Walls, her best known work. Once Lily checks it out, the creepiness begins. I thought it was a good piece of story telling, it splinters off, and tells the tale of Polly, and also the tale of young Iris writing the book... How all three stories intersect was pretty sweet, and a uber creepy narration helped on the creepiness factor of creepy. Filmbufftim on FB.

The acting was subtle and well done, the story was intriguing (if its potential was never fully met), and the near silent tone of the movie was a strength more than a drawback. There will be unanswered questions, and that annoys a lot of people. If you are like me and prefer to leave with questions, you will appreciate this flick more.

I don't think the criticism calling it boring it fair. A lot is going on in the background if you pay attention. It reminds me of Victorian ghost stories. Not everything has to be extreme to be worth viewing.

All in all it has its problems, but worth watching if you don't mind a slow build.

Wow, is this movie ever pretty. Aptly named.

I was captured by the very first scene of the girl in the dress. Like a painting from the futurism style, it blends movement and motion into a final still, out of focus, and it looks stunning on the mostly black big screen. All of this is overlayed with narration that is simply perfectly spoken (which is consistent for the film, a beautiful read), but more importantly beautifully written. The narration, which comprises most of the spoken lines of the film, is more a poem than a movie script, and I appreciated it for it. The image was a painting, the words were literature, as a whole the film was successful as an art piece.

It revolves around a live-in nurse moving into a house to care for an old author who used to write horror books. The nurse starts experiencing subtle signs of a haunting, and finds a strange connection between what is happening to her and one of the author's most famous books.

As an idea, it was the kind of quiet horror I love, channeling fear through the uncanny, like old written weird fiction (my mind took me back to reading the Yellow Wallpaper by Gilman). Fear is not even the right word, as nothing about the film is scary, really. More like a feeling of wrongness with the world, an existential dread of sorts.

Not to detract from the beauty of the art on display, which was anything but shallow, but the plot itself unfortunately was. Pretty, but surface. Only unfinished hints of a story, that relies a bit too heavily on the viewer to fill in the gaps. I am always a fan of ambiguity, and it is almost necessary for me in a horror film (definites tend to disappoint), but there is still a balance to be struck with some concrete details. Osgood Perkins' last film, February, struck the perfect balance between ambiguity and detail, and for that was my favourite horror of 2015. Here, unfortunately, the scale has moved too much in one direction, to the point of feeling unfinished and not entirely satisfying. I also did not love the ending, which is much too close to that of another stunningly subtle recent horror, by one of the most famous current horror directors. Actually, I loved the ending (as a part of the story on display), it fit very well, I just didn't love that I had already seen it so recently. A sad problem of timing.

All in all, I can't possibly not recommend The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, because it is a soul-satisfying kind of pretty, from sound to visuals to acting. But if what you're after is horror (or even a particularly engaging drama), it won't quench that kind of thirst. Only one for beauty.

First reviewed on broth of blogs.This movie about a nurse Lily (Ruth Wilson) who comes to take care of an old author, Iris Blum, living alone in a remote house. Iris is almost senile and speaks to Lily only referring to her as Polly. Lily finds out that Polly was Iris's most famous character and she attempts reading one of the books that Iris has written. And something happens.

The story is simple enough but is still cryptic. I didn't get a few parts but I don't think I care. It is about the forgotten lives in the house. The movie is poetic (literally) and I quite enjoyed it.

Characterization and Acting (C&A)

Characterization was done well, I would have probably liked some exposition but I think this movie is supposed to be puzzling. Ruth Wilson plays the part to perfection - scared, vulnerable and alone. She really looks like she is going to have a heart attack anytime. Its totally her show as she probably has 80 minutes screen time of 90 minutes of the movie.

Sounds and Effects (S&E)

The background of this movie is just mind blowing. It is the scariest I have heard till date. Has this weird ability to spook you as well even if nothing scary is happening. Full points here. There weren't any jump scares and it is all left to your imagination at the end.

Cinematography and Visuals (C&V)

Like I said the movie is poetic. It is slow, there isn't much of a story but it moves you and creeps you out. They didn't overdo the actual horror which works in the movie's favor. The lighting was great and the setting itself eerie. Great stuff.

Direction and Overall (D &O)

Overall, the movie looked and sounded great. The acting was really good I thought. Only complaint I have is that maybe it could have had a little more exposition to actually understand some stuff which wasn't clear.

So here are my scores:

Plot and Script (P&S)- 1

Characterization and Acting (C&A) – 1

Sounds and Effects (S&E) – 2.0

Cinematography and Visuals (C&V) – 1.5

Direction and Overall (D &O) – 1

Overall Score – 6.5 out of 10

Good watch for Halloween 2016! Just be patient, the movie is not as long as its title!!

Gothic horror is such a dismally overlooked genre, so many fascinating concepts to draw in, many many tales, so when one comes along, such as this, my curiosity and anticipation were high. Definitely positives can be taken, it is beautifully told, Ruth Wilson is a superb actress and story teller. The production values are strong, the story intriguing, but, those strong elements are somehow given a disservice by the execution, the delivery is meant to be slow deliberately, but is done in a way that makes the film boring, annoyingly it never seems to come to life, and the ending is woefully inadequate. Maybe my expectations were too high, this was disappointing. 5/10