House of Purgatory – 2016 – extreme haunted house

I’m a bit surprised that I haven’t seen a flick like this before. It’s been some years since I first heard about the McKamey Manor, a horror place so extreme that you have to sign a waiver to even be accepted to enter. It’s a place so extreme it’s said that no one ever finished it. Everything is allowed, except causing permanent injuries. At least major injuries I would think. But I really don’t know since I haven’t read the waiver…

As I see it, this trend of extreme haunted houses is the basis of this movie. Because I believe that it is a trend. If one starts such an extreme attraction other are sure to follow – and to explore the boundaries even further. The concept here is the argument if there’s really such a place, a place so horrible that no one ever finished it, or if it’s actually an urban legend. The two debaters hit the road to find or not to find the rumored place. Of course they find it!

If they choose to enter, and finish the attraction, they will get the admission fee back. However, since its Halloween, there is no fee… seems kind of strange. Anyway, the gang of four is told that the rumor is in fact false. The goal is not to enter the house and reach the top to get rewarded. They will actually start at the top and move themselves downwards. Four or five levels down. That’s a major basement don’t you think?

Soon they’re exposed to some vanilla scares which, to be honest, gets worst after a while. It starts to get to a couple of them. Typically the women, I guess we cannot escape the non-equality of the sexes. But I feel that women generally are better screamers anyway so… Come to think of it. I was expecting pretty poor acting in this production but I was nicely surprised to see that they are quite good! I believe in the emotions they’re showing on screen. Very nice!

As they descend down the levels there’s a question if this is actually a supernatural house or not. Are they really going down to hell or is the house so perfectly set up that it’ll only seem that way? Well, I believe we get the answer to that later on.

My personal thought about this is that it’s quite a nice horror flick. I like it! I liked the first half better than the last but it’s still way better than I expected. It doesn’t seem to really connect every piece of the puzzle along the way and I wished for a more complex ending, but you can’t have everything. It’s not a very long movie. About 75 minutes and I guess that’s fine. We don’t really need a longer story to get the point made. No one escapes purgatory!

6/10

Tommy Snöberg Söderberg

Review: Insidious - 2010

According to me James Wan is a true talent! I haven’t seen all the movies he’s directed, and certainly not the early shorts and stuff, but out of those I have seen he has about 100% successful films in his portfolio. He’s a master of suspense and seems to know exactly what the audience is thinking and then doing the opposite. In this one he shows us “the monster” in broad daylight just because we aren’t used to it. He thinks outside the box to find solutions others don’t seem to think about at all. I’m always surprised when I see a film of him! He has gone from making the first episode in the Saw franchise to Dead Silence (I never saw Death Sentence) to this one and all of them are frightening and very inventive story wise. The acting is top notch and they’re very tense when it comes to deliver the story. You should expect the unexpected and even then you will be surprised!

8/10

Review: 7 Days to Live - 2000

This is a rather effective suspenseful horror flick. It reminds me of classics like The Shining, Poltergeist and perhaps The Amityville Horror too. Amanda Plummer does a good job in one of the leading parts, especially when she characterizes insanity. Because it’s not certain that it’s about insanity at all but many classic details are part of the story. A lost child, a new place, a relationship about to break down and attempts to start over again despite the hard times are all parts of the story. It can just as well be a ghost story and what’s charming about it is that you can’t really say until it’s over. Pretty exciting! Sean Pertwee as the husband is equally good and when they act together and shows the relationship and the trouble within the film is at its best. The characters are believable and I don’t think that’s very common where flicks about haunted houses is concerned.

7/10

Review: Fertile Ground - 2011

Emily Weaver has a miscarriage and is told that she can never be pregnant again. She’s of course devastated but is supported by her husband and they move out of the city into the countryside. Nate – her husband, has inherited a house that they settle down in but strange things happens almost immediately. Things takes a turn for the worse when a skull is found under the house (blocking the water pipes) and she learns that the house has a history of violence. It seems that all women who have been pregnant in the house have died or in fact, been murdered. Furthermore, hers and Nate wedding day correlates with that of the previous residents of the house and she’s told that she’s pregnant again against all odds. Now the house won’t let her leave….

I love haunted house movies and this is a pretty damn good one! It’s suspenseful even if it’s not that hard to figure out what going to happen. Or on the other hand, the film doesn’t close as they normally do! If you want a happy ending you should look elsewhere! But before you accuse me of spoiling it for you think about all the riddles I’ve given you in the past when it comes to describing plots. It’s not as simple as you think but yet very basic storyline. Less IS more it seems. I really enjoyed this one!

7/10