‘Fear what you cannot see’
The House on Pine Street is a 2015 psychological horror film directed by Aaron and Austin Keeling from a screenplay co-written with Natalie Jones. It stars Emily Goss, Taylor Bottles and Cathy Barnett.
Buy DVD: Amazon.co.uk
Plot:
Jennifer and her husband Luke move back to her hometown in the hope of finding a calm environment for the arrival of their new baby.
Luke has found the perfect house but Jennifer feels uneasy and soon begins to experience strange phenomena. It begins with objects moving when her back is turned and unexplained knocking sounds but soon escalates into something far more sinister and threatening.
With Luke seeing or hearing nothing, his wife’s sanity is questioned. Is Jennifer losing her mind, or is there a dark entity within the house that is all too real?
Reviews:
“The performers ably walk a line in which their potential malevolence or insanity can be considered without it being too clumsily portended. Suffice to say there are a couple satisfying twists to wait for, though their arrival might not fully placate those horror fans expecting a bloodier and/or more fantastical turn of events.” Variety
“The Keeling brothers are imaginative and confident in their writing and direction, taking cues from throughout the genre and translating them into Keelish, maintaining the production values of the big classics, yet making unexpected turns at every fork.” UK Horror Scene
“The House on Pine Street is that gorgeous rarity – a film that keeps you guessing right till the end – and beyond. It’s also refreshingly free of cliche, by which I mean this is anything but a straightforward haunted house tale, or even a mentally unstable young mother tale.” House of Mortal Cinema
“Whilst the directing duo certainly do resort to some cattle prod scares that have been more than milked to death in other films, these are used sparingly and it was nice to see some unique scare tactics brought into play. A particularly effective technique was the use of some shuddersome camera eyeballing from children and old ladies alike.” Scream Magazine
“Script problems aside, The House on Pine Street definitely deserves the praise that it’s gotten. Wonderful acting by Goss and a delightfully disturbing atmosphere really make this film one of the best indie fare to be seen this year. The tension play and mood, combined with Jennifer’s multi-layered predicament keeps you glued to the screen.” Bloody Disgusting
Cast and characters:
Emily Goss as Jennifer; Taylor Bottles as Luke; Cathy Barnett as Meredith; Jim Korinke as Walter; Natalie Pellegrini as Lauren; Tisha Swart-Entwistle as Marlene
