Review of I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016) by Alec O — 15 Feb 2017

With so many RT reviewers saying, "This is a bad movie! Don't watch it!" or "WTF did I just watch??" Well, I just had to check it out. Glad I did. IMHO, a brilliant film.

Here's what I got. Maybe it will help you decide wether to see "Pretty Thing":

"Pretty Thing" is the most rarified and artful sort of horror movie, a la "The Shining" or "The Witch". It works on the idea that the most unsettling horror unfolds in the mind, just out of our conscious sight, understanding, and control.

Some have said that "Pretty Thing" is a tone piece, with no driving plot. I disagree. There is an urgent, coherent narrative at work in "Pretty Thing". The trick is that the story in "Pretty Thing" unfolds visually almost entirely. Those used to having plot constantly explained through dialogue and horror cliches at crescendos are in danger of missing the evolution of the story. Not trying to be a prig; just saying the layers are there for those with the concentration, patience, and tolerance of ambiguity to explore them.

Something I think it's important to understand going in: it's easy to assume that the nurse (Ruth Wilson, in a great performance) is the main character. A lot of reviewers have complained that the character wasn't sympathetic or well developed. This is blatantly intentional. The writer/director succinctly characterizes the nurse as psychologically fragile and fearful, shallow, and un-evolving, with no backstory. She's a doomed sacrificial lamb, not a transformative character. Don't get stuck there.

The House is the protagonist of the film, not the nurse. And it is the character of The House that sets "Pretty Thing" apart from other horror movies, even those others with "ghost houses." There's no fire pouring out the door/mouth, or knives flying out of drawers on their own. Rather, The House seems to threaten something far more sinister than bodily death. It's as though The House consumes souls to decay, robbing them of their sense of time and continuity, their connection to their own spiritual essence and past life, unable to move on. Shakespeare's great line was never so apt: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark," and death and ghosts is only the beginning of the problem.

"Pretty Thing" is easily the most thought-provoking film I've seen in the past year. I find myself pondering nuances and unanswered questions days later. If you want to see something unusual and psychologically challenging, give this one a shot.