In February we got the news that James Wan signed an eight-picture deal with Icon Entertainment to produce a string of low-budget thrillers, the first being HOUSE OF HORROR, to be directed by F. Javier Gutierrez (BEFORE THE FALL). Written by Max La Bella and Wan, the story was kept under wraps at the time. Now, thanks to Shock Til You Drop, we’ve got an idea what goes down in this horror house:
The House of Horror is a horror-thriller that centres around a gruesome crime scene. The film is shot with a blend of found footage, interrogation video, news cameras and classical cinematography. The film focuses on the aftermath of a horrific massacre; five college students, brutally murdered inside a decrepit, abandoned home.
We are thrown right into the mix as the lead Detective, Mark Lewis, and the police department’s psychologist, Dr. Elizabeth Klein, question a suspect. The young man at the centre is John Ascot, bound by handcuffs in a mobile command station. During the interrogation, John explains everything leading up to the deaths of his friends.
We discover that they were amateur ghost-hunters, seeking out paranormal phenomenon at the abandoned house believed to be haunted. What started out as a harmless activity turned into something truly terrifying and more than they ever could bargain for. John explains to the police that he isn’t responsible for his friends’ deaths, but rather, it was the house. He tells them he believes the house is a gateway to hell; a place of concentrated evil.
We slowly witness an eerie change in John’s demeanour through the course of the movie. Things take a disturbing turn when John hints at the notion that he is possessed by the Devil. Detective Lewis and Dr. Klein are forced to unravel the mystery of how John’s friends were murdered. All this leads to a stunning revelation about the man they’ve been interrogating and a gut-wrenching conclusion.
It doesn’t sound like anything we haven’t seen before.. but then again, neither did INSIDIOUS, and that still managed to be effective and fun (not to mention extremely successful). So who knows. Keep an eye out for more HOUSE OF HORROR news as we get it.
INSIDIOUS star Rose Byrne