House in the Alley (2012) by Le-Van Kiet

Director: Le-Van Kiet

Year: 2012

Country: Vietnam

Alternate Titles: Ngôi nhà trong hem

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

When they lose their baby in a miscarriage, a young couple decide to move and begin happily settling into their new life in their spacious home, but when she begins to act like there’s something wrong with her and he has several weird encounters they suspect something is wrong with the house and must try to get away alive.

Review:

For the most part, this one is a highly enjoyable ghost story. A lot of what really works well here is due to the story, which takes plenty of cues from the genre’s past to tell a creepy tale about parental trauma and guilt. Quickly moving away from the traumatic setup about the stillborn birth and her fractured mindset at losing her child, the first-half where she’s quiet and reserved trying to move past it despite his sincere best attempts to help her as well as focus back on work lays an intriguing groundwork for later. With the clear and obvious aspect that she’s not moved on with the way she acts around the now-abandoned nursery, dealing with her mother or their date-night creating a strain on top of his work-life, it all creates the prototypical perfect storm of loss and grief that makes one an obvious target for supernatural activity. As this occurs alongside the other storyline about his job creating undue stress on the both of them, a finely-tuned psychological mindset is employed that potentially enhances or undermines everything around them as there’s enough at play here that the incidents around their house are justifiably arguable as to whether they’re genuine supernatural hauntings or the result of a fractured mental state.

When the film moves away from this psychological setup, the scares created are quite impressive. Initially starting small with eerie ethereal children laughing heard nearby or hallucinations of blood seeping from unnatural objects, the change into much larger and more impressive scares as they spend more time in the house begins gradually increasing which makes for a fun time. Seeing the ghost of a baby pop-up in the middle of the bed between them is inordinately chilling, much like the constant accidents he has that are caused by the belief that someone is in the house with them and being startled to the point of injury. The idea that she’s become unhinged with the attempted burning of the nursery or standing outside in the rain while nude offers up even more clues that something isn’t right, and the lead-in to the full reveal of what’s been going on in the house leads to some incredibly thrilling scenes here. The final race to finish off the threat facing them is quite suspenseful, utilizing some creepy imagery with the ghost kids and several well-timed jump-scares to deliver a harrowing sequence that ends the film on a high-note even before adding on the great chase around the house that has quite a lot to like as well. Overall, these aspects make the film quite fun and enjoyable.

There are a few problems with this one. It’s biggest issue is the rather slow-burn approach that doesn’t provide the swiftest pacing for a genre film, taking a more measured approach to the storyline that can make the film feel like a drag at points. As the first half tends to focus more on setting up their relationship problems as well as his work struggles involving the pushy mother and well-meaning brother, there’s not a lot of genuine thrills here beyond a few sporadic encounters that are too brief to generate anything more than minor thrills. As the work-struggles storyline is the one that goes nowhere with him being unable to come to terms with being there while wanting to stay with her to the disappointment of his mother, it serves as a plot-point increasing his stress without much else. Therefore, these scenes are quite problematic stalling the pacing to get them out of the way instead of doing something more thrilling or suspenseful. The other issue here is a somewhat halfhearted finale explanation for everything that’s going on, using a single conversation as a coda at the end of the film to tell what’s going on and this makes it feel like a copout way of offering a reason for the hauntings. Beyond these factors, there’s not much wrong here.

Overview: ***.5/5

An impressive and wholly enjoyable old-school haunted house film, this one offers a lot to like overall in that style which keeps the film watchable without too many detrimental issues. Look into watching this one if you’re a fan of those slow-burn haunted house films or Asian horror in general, while viewers wanting quicker paced entertainment might be the only ones turned off here.

This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.