Director: Anthony M. Winson
Year: 2019
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Following her sisters’ death, a woman attends her funeral with the rest of her family where she learns she’s inherited a large gothic mansion in the countryside and moves in, only to begin to fear for her life when a series of ghastly secrets lurking within the house threatens to expose itself.
Review:
This was a pretty solid and enjoyable if flawed supernatural thriller. What works best for this one is the general buildup about the main characters’ mental state being in the house as the psychological impact here is what sells the film. Given that it takes place in the appropriate type of Gothic-styled house to do so, from the creaky structure, long corridors, billowing curtains and generally spacious floor-plans that drip with the gothic atmosphere the scares that emerge here begin to feel genuine. With the gradual decline of her sanity and growing belief that something’s happening to her due to being in the house, this comes across rather nicely with the wholesale inclusion of some action set-pieces in the final trying to get herself under control about the situation that she’s in. This is all that raises the film up for the most part.
There’s one main problem to be had with this one, though, that derails the film. That is the utterly abysmal job of trying to make the film interesting and worth caring about. Barely anything that happens here is worthwhile, relying on a dull and utterly drab feel that’s not in the slightest bit interested in doling out horror viewpoints for the melodrama about her slipping sanity as the repetition about trying to remain calm despite her growing hysterics that say otherwise soon grows old. Likewise, the films’ drabness also extends to the mere fact that it never for once feels like a period piece, as despite being set during the Second World War that fact can be entirely forgotten about without altering the film much, another example of some of the weak writing on display much like the lack of interest which all tend to lower this one.
Overview: *.5/5
A fine if somewhat dull and drab supernatural thriller more than an outright genre effort, this is still wholly watchable on many fronts so long as the other shortcomings elsewhere here aren’t too detrimental. That relies on the individuals’ preference and tolerance for those issues in who will go for this one, as those fine with the slow-burn psychological fare will be fine with it while those who aren’t won’t be.
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