Review of I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016) by Sean H — 28 Oct 2016

The folks who needs gratuitous violence and/or buckets of blood to be creeped out are definitely NOT going to get this.

Very very much in the vein of a lot of Shirley Jackson stories, this movie is about mood. I think it is terrific. Doesn't need to shock, it slowly gets under your skin the way being in an old unfamiliar house alone (or a wooded deserted cemetery alone on in twilight) can.

Loses a bit in the telling in the lead actress being so mousy, but the utter fear that comes from knowing the secret before the character does just eats at you if you're of the cinematic mind to just enjoy the ride. "Picnic At Hanging Rock" and "The Haunting" and in later years "Ghost Story" or "The Others" would be right in this mold.

And I'm not opposed to crazy, over-the-top stuff: Evil Dead and Walking Dead have their place in my watching. But like above where I talk about knowing what the character doesn't, the series "Fear The Walking Dead" for me is filled with SO MUCH MORE DREAD because you know what the characters don't (world is gonna fall, and gonna fall HARD).

Atmospheric and excellent.