Firstly, I would not class this movie as horror, more a Psycho Thriller. The fact that it takes place in an allegedly haunted house, (which is set out for us very clearly by the home owner right at the beginning of the movie, and we are then reminded of this half way through by another character, in case we have forgotten.) seems incidental.
My "Pretension Alarm" started ringing straight away, and there were several reasons.
1) Filmed in black and white. Not necessarily a bad thing, look at Carnival of Souls among others. Here it just serves to amplify the dullness of the story. 2) Separated into "Chapters". As there is no real change in the story, or jumping to a different location, or even a change of scene sometimes, this seems superfluous. Perhaps they are trying to fool us into thinking we are watching something intelligent by reminding us of books. 3)Throughout several scenes there is French music playing in the background, á la Edith Piaf. Although the location is never detailed, apart from a brief glimpse at a characters driving licence, it looks like 1960's New York. So why French music? It does nothing but detract from what little action is going on. 4)Constant (and I mean A LOT) of cut away shots of the girl staring into the camera from varying distances, with various expressions (Although not that varied) inter-cut with flashes of screaming faces, while discordant music screeches in the background. 5)Very little dialogue. A lot of the time is taken with the girl alone in the house walking around, so the lack of dialogue is unsurprising, but most of what is included is painfully clumsy, so this is probably a plus. 6)The ending is predictable within the first 5 minutes of the movie.
I could sum up the plot of this film in three sentences, and would probably have a sentence to spare, and still not be missing anything out. But no spoilers
As you can tell, not a fan of this one, it tries so hard to be artful and avant-garde, but is just Pretentious Claptrap.
My "Pretension Alarm" started ringing straight away, and there were several reasons.
1) Filmed in black and white. Not necessarily a bad thing, look at Carnival of Souls among others. Here it just serves to amplify the dullness of the story. 2) Separated into "Chapters". As there is no real change in the story, or jumping to a different location, or even a change of scene sometimes, this seems superfluous. Perhaps they are trying to fool us into thinking we are watching something intelligent by reminding us of books. 3)Throughout several scenes there is French music playing in the background, á la Edith Piaf. Although the location is never detailed, apart from a brief glimpse at a characters driving licence, it looks like 1960's New York. So why French music? It does nothing but detract from what little action is going on. 4)Constant (and I mean A LOT) of cut away shots of the girl staring into the camera from varying distances, with various expressions (Although not that varied) inter-cut with flashes of screaming faces, while discordant music screeches in the background. 5)Very little dialogue. A lot of the time is taken with the girl alone in the house walking around, so the lack of dialogue is unsurprising, but most of what is included is painfully clumsy, so this is probably a plus. 6)The ending is predictable within the first 5 minutes of the movie.
I could sum up the plot of this film in three sentences, and would probably have a sentence to spare, and still not be missing anything out. But no spoilers
As you can tell, not a fan of this one, it tries so hard to be artful and avant-garde, but is just Pretentious Claptrap.