"The House of Usher" is a bland, boring barely horror.
**SPOILERS**
Heartbroken over their break-up, Jill Michaelson, (Izabella Miko) is invited go back to Roderick Usher, (Austin Nichols) at his house, where they attend the funeral of a close friend. After the services, they realize how they've drifted apart and decide to stay the weekend to catch up. The more time they spend together, the closer they become until he reveals he suffers from an acute cell disease that renders him ill and weak. Thinking something more might be going on, she stays by his side where she learns the dreaded secret he was hiding and tries to get away from the mansion.
The Good News: This one barely qualifies as a horror film, but the few that are related help it nicely. The ghost scenes near the middle section generates a couple of rather nice shock scenes, especially in the walk outside. That's a solid scare and helps the film out. There's a nice atmosphere derived from the house, as there's an attempt for it to be somewhat centered around old-school Gothic ideals about the setting, but there's also the really great design that also works nicely for this. The only other area to work is the finale, which has a lot to like. It's the closest to actually having some excitement with some nice chasing through the house, a couple good moments in the attic as well as the deprivation tank, and along with the film's sole appearance of violence as well as the great revelation scene, make this one's finale its best scene, as well as all of the good parts from the film as a whole.
The Bad News: This here was a pretty below-average horror film, mainly for one large reason. For the majority of the film, it refuses to be like a horror film and instead acts like a drama about the family's disease. There's rarely any mention of anything horrific happening, which could've been gold with the disease plot-line already in place for it. This had the deadly, degenerative disease angle ready to go, using it to throw symptoms his way and forcing the stay to take care of him, but here they keep it a mystery and go for the romance and drama angle, which is plain weak. The other part that's weak is that this gives the film no scares, which if done the real Gothic route combined with the dangerous disease angle would've made this one entertaining, instead there's large sections, which consists of mainly the first hour of the film with absolutely nothing of interest, which is a really bad sign. None of the other flaws can overcome this, although there isn't much else since there's very little else to the film.
The Final Verdict: Pretty dreadful horror-drama that has very little about it that's worthwhile or even interesting, leaving it as a really lacking viewing. Really only watch this one if you're into the horror-drama side or are looking for something to kill an hour with, otherwise just leave this one alone.
Rated R: Violence and a sex scene
**SPOILERS**
Heartbroken over their break-up, Jill Michaelson, (Izabella Miko) is invited go back to Roderick Usher, (Austin Nichols) at his house, where they attend the funeral of a close friend. After the services, they realize how they've drifted apart and decide to stay the weekend to catch up. The more time they spend together, the closer they become until he reveals he suffers from an acute cell disease that renders him ill and weak. Thinking something more might be going on, she stays by his side where she learns the dreaded secret he was hiding and tries to get away from the mansion.
The Good News: This one barely qualifies as a horror film, but the few that are related help it nicely. The ghost scenes near the middle section generates a couple of rather nice shock scenes, especially in the walk outside. That's a solid scare and helps the film out. There's a nice atmosphere derived from the house, as there's an attempt for it to be somewhat centered around old-school Gothic ideals about the setting, but there's also the really great design that also works nicely for this. The only other area to work is the finale, which has a lot to like. It's the closest to actually having some excitement with some nice chasing through the house, a couple good moments in the attic as well as the deprivation tank, and along with the film's sole appearance of violence as well as the great revelation scene, make this one's finale its best scene, as well as all of the good parts from the film as a whole.
The Bad News: This here was a pretty below-average horror film, mainly for one large reason. For the majority of the film, it refuses to be like a horror film and instead acts like a drama about the family's disease. There's rarely any mention of anything horrific happening, which could've been gold with the disease plot-line already in place for it. This had the deadly, degenerative disease angle ready to go, using it to throw symptoms his way and forcing the stay to take care of him, but here they keep it a mystery and go for the romance and drama angle, which is plain weak. The other part that's weak is that this gives the film no scares, which if done the real Gothic route combined with the dangerous disease angle would've made this one entertaining, instead there's large sections, which consists of mainly the first hour of the film with absolutely nothing of interest, which is a really bad sign. None of the other flaws can overcome this, although there isn't much else since there's very little else to the film.
The Final Verdict: Pretty dreadful horror-drama that has very little about it that's worthwhile or even interesting, leaving it as a really lacking viewing. Really only watch this one if you're into the horror-drama side or are looking for something to kill an hour with, otherwise just leave this one alone.
Rated R: Violence and a sex scene