Our House (3/5)

Our House is a fascinating horror thriller. It may be about paranormal activity, but it’s the believable family dynamic that makes it all work. Watch it on Netflix in the US from June 2020. Read our full Our House review here!

Our House starts out with a heartbreaking, but believable, twist. This is what makes everything that comes next work. Drama and irritation are integral parts of the relationship between siblings of very different ages. Still, it’s clear that they all love each other.

And once you have established loving relationships, we start to care about the characters. As soon as we care, that’s when the paranormal activity ensues.

This is exactly why I was completely enthralled by the story in Our House from the beginning until the very end.

Read our full Our House review below and check it out on Netflix in the US.

Thomas Mann sure can carry a movie

Thomas Mann is the kind of actor, I feel like I’ve known forever. Still, when you ask me where I’ve seen him before, I can’t seem to remember. I just know that he was good and that I like him.

After watching him in Our House, I think this will change. He absolutely carries this movie and makes it feel like they really are a family. Even though this is just a 90-minute movie, it feels like a family I’ve gotten to know during many seasons on TV.

Also, If you’ve watched Me, Earl and the Dying Girl where he co-starred with Olivia Cooke, then you already know he’s pretty great. Otherwise, you’ve probably seen him in Kong: Skull Island, where he has a smaller part.

As his little brother, we see Percy Hynes White (Marvel’s The Gifted on Fox). He is brilliant in Our House as well and is sure to have a great career ahead of him. Almost seems like he’s already in the middle of it. Read our review of Rupture, which he was in, here >

Go easy on the CGI

The one thing, I wasn’t crazy about in Our House was the use of CGI. Or rather, I don’t mind that CGI is used. It just wasn’t used in the way that I like. Whenever CGI is overused or pushed too far to make a point, the spell is broken for me.

For me, it has always been a lot scarier when I don’t (or simply can’t) see what lurks in the dark. Give me weird shadows and things that go bump in the night.

Just don’t show me too much. When you do, I feel I have to relate to it. The risk of having to relate to the “scary monster” is that I look at it and go: “This looks fake!”.

If that happens, then a big part of the horror factor is immediately diminished. Still, I would definitely recommend Our House for both its horror and drama. Also, it is thrilling in the most intense ways at several turns.

Anthony Scott Burns of Father’s Day short

Even though Our House is the feature film debut for director Anthony Scott Burns, we already adore him. He did the brilliant Father’s Day segment of the Holidays horror anthology. From the moment we had watched this, he had us hooked.

Please, make sure you watch this anthology (read our review of Holidays here) and definitely watch Anthony Scott Burns’ segment. We reviewed each segment of the anthology and here is the one for Father’s Day >

We were absolutely blown away by this short film and would love to see a feature film version of it. The next film from Anthonys Scott Burns is in post-production.

It still doesn’t have an official plot. However, it’s listed as Sci-Fi Horror and has the title Come True. In other words, we will definitely watch and review it as soon as we can!

Our House is out on-demand and in theaters on July 27, 2018. It’s being released via IFC Midnight after enjoying a world premiere at Fantasia 2018 in Canada.

Watch Our House on Netflix in the US

UPDATE: Our House is on Netflix in the US from June 1, 2020. 

Details

Director: Anthony Scott Burns
Cast: Thomas Mann, Nicola Peltz, Percy Hynes White, Robert B. Kennedy

Plot

A machine that can bring back dead loved ones seems like a great idea…until you unleash the wrong spirits. When his parents are killed in a car accident, science wiz Ethan (Thomas Mann) must leave behind college and his girlfriend (Nicola Peltz) to care for his younger brother and sister. By day, he juggles the responsibilities of raising two kids; by night, he tinkers in the garage on an invention he hopes will change the world: a machine that can generate wireless electricity. He gets more than he bargained for, however, when the device awakens the dead souls that haunt the house. As Ethan and his siblings attempt to make contact with their parents, a horrifying realization sets in: not all the spirits in their midst may be friendly.