OUR HOUSE (2018, streaming on Netflix) is a fairly solid indie horror film driven by its likeable characters. The film focuses on Ethan, who leaves college to care for his younger siblings, Becca and Matt, after their parents die in an auto accident. At school, Ethan had been working on a device he believes can wirelessly transmit electricity. Continuing to work on it, he finds out that while it doesn’t do what he wants it to do, it does do something incredible: enable the dead to manifest and interact with the living.
It’s different than many horror films in that the central conflict doesn’t really start until deep into the second act. While this slows the story down, it does allow us to fully understand and empathize with each member of the family and make them likeable, with Kate Moyer, who played 10-year-old Becca, practically stealing the show. With this firm foundation, the horror element slowly comes to the fore and builds quickly to the climax. Though the horror element is what I’d call “light” horror, it works because we’re really rooting for the family to make it out okay.
I enjoyed the movie, which besides the characters has two notable virtues: It’s a simple story well told, and it’s not trying to be anything else other than what it is. This is yet another enjoyable watch from XYZ Films, joining the likes of BUSHWICK, I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE, MANDY, THE INVITATION, MOM AND DAD, and COLOR OUT OF SPACE; it’s gotten so that when I see XYZ at the start, I know it’s going to be worthwhile.
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