Hey gang, Valkor here. Whenever I do my movie reviews, I sometimes ( a lot of times) put focus on the film's pacing in the breakdown; pacing done right will either make it or break it with me. Recently reviewed film Piggy is 106 minutes, but it goes by quickly. Then you have the next film on the block “House of Bad”, or as I’d like to put it, “When pacing goes bad”. Major spoilers ahead.
House of Bad centers on three sisters – Tieg (Heather L. Tyler), Lily (Cheryl Sands), and Sirah (Sadie Katz), who steal a suitcase full of drugs from a local baddie and hide out in the home that Tieg and Sirah grew up in. The plan is to hold up there for two weeks until the heat dies down and then they can rendezvous with a buyer to sell the drugs, make much dinero and live their days in Mexico. Tieg, who is the lead of the group, chose the house because it’s off the radar – no one has lived in it for years, though it has heat, electricity and running water. And as an added precaution, she takes the cellphones away from Sirah and Lily, so they don’t just happen to message anyone that would give away their location. So you have three women, isolated in a single home for two weeks, with limited resources. What could possibly go wrong?
Well for starters there’s already tension and trust issues amongst the group as Tieg is super bossy and hasn’t fully accepted Lily simply because she’s there half sister plus she’s an addict. Next, Sirah contacts Tommy (Clint Jung), the dealer whom they’ve stolen the drugs from. Oh and did I mention the house is haunted? I didn’t? Yea, the house is haunted by the parents of Sirah and Tieg. As it turns out their father was an abuser – he abused alcohol and the women of the house - especially Tieg, so you know she's none to happy with the situation, even though it was her idea to stay there in the firl place. And now their souls creep the home, which eventually turns things topsy-turvey for the gal trio by the end of it all. What happens then changes the dynamic of the group as they’ll have to face a past they would sooner like to forget.
House of Bad touts itself as a film of horror, but from what I saw, it comes across more like a drama/thriller with supernatural elements. So is a film lacking in “scares” worth looking into?
The Good:
House of bad isn’t a terrible film and it has its moments of interest within the main plot. The idea of these three women held up in a home while they wait for danger to pass, builds some tension, and you know there’s going to be some. You know that somehow this guy Tommy will find them, so it’s only a matter of how and when. And the build up to that is subtle but effective as you deal with the sisters growing antsy as their stuck in this house, which has a spooky vibe to it. I think the predictability of the film is what lowers the intensity, but it’s still watchable. Though it takes time to get there, the true ordeal these girls have to face is each other and their past with their father and the gruesome situation that happened in that house. And that’s when things get a little frantic. What really keeps the butts in the seats is the acting and I give credit where credit is due, these ladies do a mighty fine job and look great doing (kudos for the gratuitous nudity, all three ladies are exceptionally yummy). House of Bad is a pretty decent film that could’ve been better had it not been for…
The Bad:
… the terrible pacing – it’s really bad. I would have thought I’d have that problem with “Piggy”, but that was almost two hours long and it didn’t seem like it. House of bad is 96 minutes but it felt like three hours almost. It really drags. Part of the problem is that the film is predictable; you know Tommy is gonna find them, you know that one of the girls will do something stupid that will lead him to them and you know there’s gonna be tension amongst the three sister. So a lot could have been edited out for timing purposes and to help the film flow better. Second, the film is touted as a horror, but there are absolutely no scares – and I mean no scares. Yea you get the creepy ghost haunting one of the girls but there isn’t enough of it. Only one of the girls, Lily, actually sees a ghost but it's passed off as her coming down off her addiction. And the ghost themselves don't do much of anything but stand there looking creepy until they start possesing the girls towards the end. Finally, the ending… it goes on longer than it should and I would’ve been satisfied if all three girls had died.
The Ugly:
Sirah jabs her thumb into Tieg’s bullet wound and then sucks the blood off of her finger. Damn!
House of Bad DVD is out now and if you’re looking for a little supernatural mixed in with your thriller, then you might want to give this one a try; the story isn’t terrible, the acting is damn good and the ladies make for some sweet, sweet eye-candy. However, after multiple views, I’m just not happy with it and that’s why out of TOV 5 stars, House of Bad gets a 2.
