In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Saturday 21 February 2015

House of Last Things (2013)

To say that HoLT mixes Lynchian unease, Richard Kelly’s sense of displacement and the haunted feelings that Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) elicited makes it sound a hell of a lot better than it actually is, but it does include elements from all of those things. Many of the set pieces are excellent, but there’s something missing from the whole—some kind of filmic-glue that would bind them all together. Had the elusive substance been in place the end result could've been amazing.
Still, most of the cast are good. Lindsey Haun especially, as house sitter to a dwelling that witnessed a tragedy and is itself anguished by the memory. The latter aspect makes it less ‘haunted house’ and more ‘house haunted’.

3 yellow balloons out of 5

No comments: