‘Based on true events’
House of Darkness is a 2016 horror thriller about a woman who suspects her house is haunted so everyone around her starts to think that she’s losing her sanity.
Written and directed by Patrick DeLuca (Prom Nightmare TV series; House of Darkness: New Blood; Fear Island; Evil Things mini-series; My Haunted House TV series; Ghost Bait TV series). Produced by Ryan Craig, Danny Lutman and Harris Wilkinson. Executive produced by Jim Casey, Patrick DeLuca and Ross Kaiman.
The Painless Productions movie stars Sara Fletcher, Gunner Wright, Mykayla Sohn, Britt Falardeau, Nikki Howard, Raphael Thompson, Thomas Rand, Jennifer Schoch, James Adam Tucker, Honey Lauren, Gina Jackson and Orel De La Mota.
Review:
House of Darkness is a film that asks a question that I’m sure we have all asked ourselves at least once: “What if Lifetime made a horror film? What would that be like?”
Well, it would unfortunately be like every single horror film that you’ve ever seen based on this movie. There is not a single cliché that does not show up in House of Darkness. It starts with the promise that we are about to see a true story and hey, maybe it was! After all, the film reminded me of a lot of other horror films — Amityville, Paranormal Activity, and others — that were also allegedly based on true stories.
Kelly (Sara Fletcher) and Brian (Gunner Wright) are a married couple but they are also a Lifetime couple, which means that their marriage is in trouble! Brian is a carpenter who has a difficult time opening up emotionally. Kelly is a massage therapist, which Brian appears to think is the equivalent of working in a brothel. How bad is their marriage? When Brian sees Kelly wearing sexy lingerie to liven things up, he responds by going out to the garage!
Fortunately, Brian and Kelly have been seeing a marriage counsellor. The latter suggests that they both start keeping a video diary, which allows the film to occasionally do some found footage shots. (That’s the Paranormal Activity influence.) If the video diaries don’t help, maybe moving to a new house in San Francisco will do the trick!
And you know what? It’s a great house but the owners didn’t want much money for it. It’s almost as if they were trying to get rid of the house. I wonder what that could mean!
Anyway, Kelly and Brian’s daughter is soon wandering around, speaking in a demonic voice while giving everyone Hillary Clinton-style death glares, and encouraging her friends to wander into the basement. Meanwhile, Brian is acting even weirder and suddenly, it’s like he can’t go anywhere without bringing an axe with him!
And then there are the neighbours. A sexy woman and a superhot man occasionally appear standing in front of the house across the road. The woman smiles at Brian, tempting him to… to do what? I guess that the idea here is to encourage Brian to start doing his Jack Nicholson impersonation but I wasn’t sure. I suspect, to a certain extent, that the ghosts and the evil spirits and whatever the Hell is in the house don’t have any goals beyond doing the usual horror stuff. They probably said, “Look! A stationary camera! Let’s go knock shit around!”
Ultimately, House of Darkness is pretty much just a festival of nonstop clichés and scenes lifted from other horror films. It’s never really scary, largely because it’s a made-for-TV movie and, since it was made for Lifetime, you know that it’s not going to be disturbing or graphic like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones. Without any intentional humour or unexpected scares, House of Darkness is largely forgettable.
Lisa Marie Bowman – check out more of Lisa’s reviews at Through the Shattered Lens
Cast and characters:
Sara Fletcher … Kelly; Gunner Wright … Brian; Mykayla Sohn … Sarah; Britt Falardeau … Jamie; Nikki Howard … Ellen; Raphael Thompson … Clark; Thomas Rand … Mason; Jennifer Schoch … Young Ruth; James Adam Tucker … Officer Hicks; Honey Lauren … Adelaide; Gina Jackson … Doctor Sanders; Orel De La Mota … Officer Van Shack; Emilie Hagen … Shopkeeper; Andre Johnson … Corrections Officer; Marcia Moran … Ruth; Dylan Conrique … Ruth’s Daughter; Caden Conrique … Ruth’s Son; Hannah Sohn … Ghost Mask; Lucas Royalty … Halloween Child; Anthony Gore … Paul; Elester Latham … Clark; Mannette Antill … Ellen; Daniel Mandehr …; Officer Garabusi; Dean England … Officer Kaiman; Mike Sanders … Paramedic; Zach Scheerer … Paramedic; Kimberly Spak … Mom; Eric Corbin … Man in Pig Mask; Dario Antoine Lee … Corrections Officer
Country of origin:
USA
Budget:
$2,000,000 (estimated)
Technical specs:
1 hour 25 minutes
Audio: Stereo
Aspect ratio: 16:9 HD
External recommended reviews:
Culture Crypt
Geek Legion of Doom [YouTube] 6 out of 10
J.B. Spins
Notes:
Not to be confused with House of Darkness (2022) which stars Kate Bosworth and Justin Long.
