‘Dark House’ Review
Stars: Luke Kleintank, Tobin Bell, Alex McKenna, Anthony Rey Perez, Zack Ward, Lacey Anzelc, Ethan S. Smith, Lesley-Anne Down, Charles Agron, Daniel Ross Owens, Max Gail, Patricia Belcher | Written by Victor Salva, Charles Agron | Directed by Victor Salva
As a fan of the Jeepers Creepers movies I’m always interested in what Victor Salva will come up with next, and this can be a good and bad thing. Dark House is his latest movie which he directs and co-wrote the screenplay for and I have to admit that it is an interesting film, if you are a fan of Supernatural or shows like it that focus on a fairly lightweight battle between good and evil. With Tobin Bell starring, Dark House is also is likely to pull in some of the Saw fans too.
Nick Di Santo (Luke Kleintank) is a man with a gift, he’s able to see how people die just by touching them. The twist on this (as there always is one) is that he only sees the deaths that are violent and “bad”. In the hope of finding out about his father, and why he has this gift he visits his mother who is in a mental asylum but she is little help, and dies soon afterwards leaving him rights to an old house in her will. This house he discovers is one that he’s been obsessed with for his whole life, so taking the trip out to it he looks to find the truth of his heritage and hopefully find the truth about his father.
When I say that this is a film for fans of Supernatural I say it because of the fight between good and evil, heaven and hell and whatever else Supernatural is using as the “Big Bad” of the season. I’m not putting Supernatural down there, I actually like the show which is probably a reason I like Dark House. Don’t expect too many scares but there is enough gore and action to keep you entertained and if you go into the film with no knowledge of the films twist then you are left puzzled with where the film is going to go.
The acting in the film is actually good, especially Luke Kleintank who plays Nick and Tobin Bell as Seth, but this does not mean that the script they are provided with can live up to their performances. Some of the lines I heard in the film actually had me groan because they are so bad. One example is a character explaining a door is un-openable, and then say “need a hand?” I’m sorry but if you make a statement that the door can’t be opened, and give a reason why it can’t be, then don’t offer to open it in the next line that just comes across stupid. There are a few cases like this where the script just doesn’t make sense, but if you can look past these occurrences you’ll survive the movie.
Dark House is a good movie, but as I’ve pointed out is flawed and for some it may just ruin the experience, but I’d hope not. The basic plot of the story is interesting and although you will form an idea of where it is going, it will have you wondering what the hell is going on for at least a while. I wouldn’t say it’s that scary, but there is enough action to keep audiences interested, just don’t expect this to be horror that will stay on your mind. Think of it as an extended episode of Supernatural which doesn’t feature Sam and Dean and you’ll probably understand just what to expect when it comes to Dark House.
Dark House is released in the US March 11th on VOD, Blu-ray and DVD.
