I have been reading about this film on numerous sites for a few months now and the variance of opinions has shown itself to be as wide as the Grand Canyon! That, to me, is a sure sign I need to watch something for myself to see which side of the fence I fall on, one of my nerdy idiosyncrasies. So I was pretty excited when I found out that Wild Eye Releasing had picked this one up for distribution and would be soon available. Then lo and behold the sky parted, the shafts of light beamed down upon my doorstep one morning recently, and shone brightly on a wonderful little package from the great folks over at Wild Eye! It was like Christmas morning and the mailman had become Santa! I hurried inside feeling a bit giddy with anticipation, quickly tearing into the box with the relative care of a 3 yr old, (angles voices cascade through the air), when what do my wondering eyes see, but 11 dvds tucked nicely in box in front of me!!! Okay so maybe that was a bit much but hey it was pretty awesome and I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this one included in the titles!
If you haven't heard of this one let me fill you in. The Perfect House is an anthology film that has 3 main shorts, and they are all tied together under the guise of a newlywed couple, searching for their dream home, and they think this could just be The Perfect House for them! See each short is set inside the home at a various time period, with a different family, or cast of characters, suffering varying horrible fates, all of which we get to relive as the newly weds and their seriously over sexed real estate agent move from area to area of the home. Lets do a quick breakdown of the tales:
The Storm~ A family of four seeks shelter from a raging storm in their basement. Quickly we see the cracks in this family and realize its not the weather they should be afraid of... Chic-Ken~ we find ourselves witnessing the execution of one mans grand plan to thin the heard with the help of his caged, captive muse. This one begs the question how well do you know what your neighbor is doing behind closed doors?? Dinner Guest~ what starts out as a friendly offer to break bread amongst neighbors escalates to something much more sinister, that will leave one family wishing they had stayed in and ordered pizza!
The Perfect house has got some attention grabbing names attached to it like Fellisa Rose (most notably of Sleepaway Camp fame, which if you were like me, scarred you for life with something you had never before even contemplated lol) John Philbin (The Return of the Living Dead) and Jonathon Tierston (also of Sleepaway Camp) all giving this one cult appeal right from the get go! All of them performed well but Fellisa and Jonathon both individually were stand outs their personal performances. I was also pretty impressed with relative new comer Holly Greene. All in all the performances across the board are pretty good, with a few better than others, a couple that are just entirely lack luster, but it all balances out pretty well, as the weakest tend to be very small bit players.
As a whole I thought this was a smart film, and I really enjoyed it. Often in anthologies the thread that holds the stories together making them relevant to one another is tenuous at best, but this offered stories that really did flow well within original premise of the film. and when you get to the real heart of the film its all about appearances of suburban normalcy and what that facade may actually be hiding, making for a pretty interesting and thoughtful watch (especially if you enjoy looking into the deeper possible meanings of films).
My personal favorite short of the anthology has to be The Storm. A great example of how things may appear one way, when in reality they are really something very different. It was smartly done, with some nice twists, and changes in perspective as you peer into their lives, as witnessed by each member. Its a nice paced psychological horror piece that left me shaking my head with admiration!
I thought the film, as a whole was pretty good ( id even say worthy of popcorn!). I think if I hadn't read so much on this one first I probably would have enjoyed it more though. I read over and over that it was a gore fest from start to end and it does have more blood and gore than the average film, it wasn't what I was expecting in that department. However that doesn't mean lacks gore it just wasn't the over the top effects I had imagined, but gore hounds will admire the second piece in the anthology which offers up some really meaty moments in practical effects that are sure to catch your "eye":! This is a film I definitely would recommend, the cult names alone make it worth owning! Past the names the film is a well written introspective look at suburban living that will leave you thinking about what your neighbors may really be up to and what the hell they think about what it is your up to! Every family has its secrets, and every home helps keep them... The Perfect House...
HeatherOmen TheHorrorNation.net
If you haven't heard of this one let me fill you in. The Perfect House is an anthology film that has 3 main shorts, and they are all tied together under the guise of a newlywed couple, searching for their dream home, and they think this could just be The Perfect House for them! See each short is set inside the home at a various time period, with a different family, or cast of characters, suffering varying horrible fates, all of which we get to relive as the newly weds and their seriously over sexed real estate agent move from area to area of the home. Lets do a quick breakdown of the tales:
The Storm~ A family of four seeks shelter from a raging storm in their basement. Quickly we see the cracks in this family and realize its not the weather they should be afraid of... Chic-Ken~ we find ourselves witnessing the execution of one mans grand plan to thin the heard with the help of his caged, captive muse. This one begs the question how well do you know what your neighbor is doing behind closed doors?? Dinner Guest~ what starts out as a friendly offer to break bread amongst neighbors escalates to something much more sinister, that will leave one family wishing they had stayed in and ordered pizza!
The Perfect house has got some attention grabbing names attached to it like Fellisa Rose (most notably of Sleepaway Camp fame, which if you were like me, scarred you for life with something you had never before even contemplated lol) John Philbin (The Return of the Living Dead) and Jonathon Tierston (also of Sleepaway Camp) all giving this one cult appeal right from the get go! All of them performed well but Fellisa and Jonathon both individually were stand outs their personal performances. I was also pretty impressed with relative new comer Holly Greene. All in all the performances across the board are pretty good, with a few better than others, a couple that are just entirely lack luster, but it all balances out pretty well, as the weakest tend to be very small bit players.
As a whole I thought this was a smart film, and I really enjoyed it. Often in anthologies the thread that holds the stories together making them relevant to one another is tenuous at best, but this offered stories that really did flow well within original premise of the film. and when you get to the real heart of the film its all about appearances of suburban normalcy and what that facade may actually be hiding, making for a pretty interesting and thoughtful watch (especially if you enjoy looking into the deeper possible meanings of films).
My personal favorite short of the anthology has to be The Storm. A great example of how things may appear one way, when in reality they are really something very different. It was smartly done, with some nice twists, and changes in perspective as you peer into their lives, as witnessed by each member. Its a nice paced psychological horror piece that left me shaking my head with admiration!
I thought the film, as a whole was pretty good ( id even say worthy of popcorn!). I think if I hadn't read so much on this one first I probably would have enjoyed it more though. I read over and over that it was a gore fest from start to end and it does have more blood and gore than the average film, it wasn't what I was expecting in that department. However that doesn't mean lacks gore it just wasn't the over the top effects I had imagined, but gore hounds will admire the second piece in the anthology which offers up some really meaty moments in practical effects that are sure to catch your "eye":! This is a film I definitely would recommend, the cult names alone make it worth owning! Past the names the film is a well written introspective look at suburban living that will leave you thinking about what your neighbors may really be up to and what the hell they think about what it is your up to! Every family has its secrets, and every home helps keep them... The Perfect House...
HeatherOmen TheHorrorNation.net