Our House review: Not to be confused with the Madness song, this is a modern spin on the haunted house story.
Our House review by Kat Hughes.
Our House Review
Based on the little known movie Ghost in the Machine by Matt Osterman, Our House offers a technological slant to the haunted house story. Ethan (Thomas Mann) is a hard-working science student working on a radical new machine and his work has seen him become estranged from his loving family. The situation soon changes however, after a tragic accident leaves him the sole guardian of his younger brother Matt (Percy Hynes White) and sister Becca (Kate Moyer). Upon returning to his family home, he soon starts working on his machine again and discovers an impossible side effect – it allows the dead to communicate with the living.
With Our House, director Anthony Scott Burns crafts a slow-burning, creepy, modern take on the haunted house tale. An intricate blend of mad-scientist science-fiction and ghostly horror, Our House has a lot of interesting elements. At times the film feels very akin to the original Poltergeist, especially as the trio of siblings first encounter the side effects of Ethan’s machine. Kate Moyer does a fantastic job of channelling her inner Heather O’Rourke and delivers some of the film’s creepiest moments.
Our House Review
It’s much more than just a haunted house movie though as it also explores the power of grief and the many ways in which families can become broken. Perhaps a little too much emphasis is placed into this area unfortunately, and not enough on the spooky side. The creepy elements are few and far between, Burns relying much more on the concept of getting into your head than really trying to frighten the viewer.
Buoyed by a beautiful laid back soundtrack which includes ‘Feels Like Heaven’ by Fiction Factory and ‘Nothings Gonna Hurt You Baby’ by Cigarettes After Sex, Our House is a very chilled out affair. Although not quite as spooky or sinister as it could be, it is still an intriguing modern update on the classic haunted house story.
Our House review by Kat Hughes, August 2018.
Our House screened as part of Arrow Video Frightfest 2018.
