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I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House

Gothic horror has had an absence from the genre for some time. With the token rehashes of old classics in Frankenstein and Dracula, there is little to steer the genre back into the mainstream. Guillermo Del Toro’s CRIMSON PEAK welcomed back the subtle ghost stories of a Victorian era but since then there has been a drought.

 

Oz Perkins (son of PSYCHO star Anthony Perkins) brings along I AM THE PRETTY THING THAT LIVES IN THE HOUSE (no, this is not a Panic! At the Disco song) which takes a 21st century spin on the old fireplace ghost stories and hopes to shred fear through its story over matter.

 

Starring Ruth Wilson as a young nurse, she resides in the house of an elderly author(Paula Prentiss) in her closing years. Lacking in any caring nature, Lily does what she has to for her paycheck but leaves Mrs Blum in an isolated position for her final outing. Lily soon learns that the house is not as lonely as she thinks and the more she reads the work of Mrs Blum, the further she spirals into the reality of ghosts.

 

At times the film does have a chilling temperament that is pending something serious to happen but outside the final 10 minutes there’s very little to surprise us. The unfolding relationship between Lily and Mrs Blum is not as engaging as it should be. The cold lack of contact makes neither party emotionally attached and especially in the circumstance of Mrs Blum, her absence for much of the film makes her small appearances both feint and unrequisite to the story at heart.

 

For what little story there is and the accompaniment of a monologue of the leading lady, it’s a pity that the beautiful imagery doesn’t extend past the picture frame. The ghosting of the apparitions is an effective way of turning a 21st century ghost story into something that feels centuries older. Imagine UNDER THE SKIN meets Edgar Allan Poe and you begin to unravel Oz Perkins blurring of past and present in the world of horror cinema.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stretch any further than a striking painting and the longer the film is endured, the more that the single note story and unemotional characters feel as thin as the canvas they’ve been painted on.

 

To Perkins justice, the film does well to feel big on an independent budget but with a dry script and little paid for perseverance, it’s hard to justify the running time to anyone other than those who have a passion for gothic horror which hides its horrors in a melancholy pleasure.

Director: Oz Perkins

Released: 28th October 2016

Running Time: 87 minutes

Age Rating: 15

 

Reviewer: Martyn Wakefield

RATING


Plot: 2
Fear: 3
Gore: 1


R2/5​

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