There are only certain movies I can tolerate when it comes to reading subtitles, and those films are usually masterpieces in their own right Pan’s Labyrinth, OldBoy, Battle Royale, Ringu and Inside, are ones that have good stories, so as someone who does not speak any foreign language, you best make a dam good film if you expect me to like it. In the case of this film Black House, where the box cover promises it will be full of suspense and scares. I found myself yawning for the first hour and by the time it was over I felt the film had only just begun.
Black House is about an insurance investigator who is investigating some strange leads he’s gets. these leads bring him to a house where it is said that place holds some dark secrets from it’s dark past. His first encounter is with a young suicide victim and then is followed by a bizarre series of events. As he gets deeper and deeper into his investigation however the more bizarre and twisted things he begins to find out, such as people being tortured in the house and self mutilation. Not only must he get to the bottom of this case but it just might end up costing him his life.
I’ll be straight forward about this one. The script seems to bet better as the movie goes along, but it starts out very, very slow to the point where I almost shut it off. It took almost an hour to get to any kind of real action that made me as the viewer gain interest. I really can’t say if the dialogue was great or not in the script as it written in Korean, and all I have to go by is subtitles, which are translated in a very simple matter as they usually are.
The film has some pretty decent production value although the majority of scene took place on location that were very simple to manage and dress, such as homes, office buildings, hospitals and city streets. The acting is decent from what I can tell, and the film does have some pretty intense torture scenes. However don’t expect this film to be your typical Asian horror film full of gore with everyone that is killed off. The film uses the less is more technique a few times and leaves you guessing what happens to each victim. But towards the films conclusion we do get some decent special effects and some gore in the likes of Saw and Hostel.
Overall, why Black House did get better as the movie moved along, it was still slow, and I found myself dozing off as I watched it. It does have some pretty memorable scenes that are pretty suspenseful, and I’m sure fans of Asian horror films are probably going to like this film for what it is. But in my opinion with a running time of a hundred and three minutes, I found this film to be too long for the story it was trying to get across and it has such a slow start that it turned me off right from the beginning. So why it does have it’s moments it’s still a film that took me up to the very end to really get into.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
