For a while there, Neil LaBute was the hottest name in the independent film world. His first three movies, In the Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbors, and Nurse Betty really announced him as a unique voice in cinema. After his much maligned (but I liked it a lot) Wicker Man remake, his output became a bit spotty as he began mixing Hollywood fare like Lakeview Terrace with lots of television work. House of Darkness finds him veering back into the horror territory of The Wicker Man. While it’s not nearly as much fun as that flick, it certainly has its moments.
Justin Long picks up Kate Bosworth at a bar and takes her back to her place for a night of fun. The first sign that something is up is she lives in a castle that would look right at home in a Hammer movie. Just when they are about to get down to business, they are interrupted by her spooky sister (Gia Crovatin) who wants to hear a ghost story.
What’s unique about House of Darkness is that it finds LaBute exploring a lot of the same themes he dealt with in his early films (namely the power dynamic between women and men) but firmly set in the horror milieu. Since the bulk of the movie is just Bosworth and Long (who were both in Barbarian the same year) talking, it often feels like a play. Fortunately, both performers are quite good, and they hold your attention as they have genuine chemistry together. Long (who has slowly become a horror mainstay in the last decade or so) is especially good as the womanizing philanderer who slowly begins to realize he’s in over his head with the sinister sisters.
All of this is successful for a while. It’s just that the deliberate pacing doesn’t do the movie any favors. LaBute also waits far too long to play all his cards. The twist ending is predictable and slight, which makes the film feel more like a shaggy dog story than a gothic horror campfire tale. This kind of twist may have worked as a short story in an anthology horror flick. As far as a full-length feature goes, it’s ultimately too little too late.
you actually liked that piece of shit Wicker Man remake? I can see enjoying it in a so-bad-its-good way but not ironically. That shit was unwatchable in any other manner.
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