Cubbyhouse (2001) User Reviews

Not so Bad as the IMDb User Rating Indicates

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 27 October 2012]

After a troubled divorce in the United States, Lynn Graham (Belinda McClory) returns to her hometown in Australia with her teenage son Danny (Joshua Leonard) and the children Ivan (Joshua Tainish-Biagi) and Natalie (Amy Reti) that were born in America. Lynn can only afford to buy and old house nearby her sister's home and the real state agent Bill (Craig McLachlan) omits the clause that the house should never be sold to a family with children.

Ivan and Natalie are fascinated by the wendy house in the backyard and soon they are possessed by an evil force that is trapped within the cubby house. Meanwhile Danny dates his next door neighbor Bronwyn (Lauren Hewett) and they meet the disturbed Harlow (Jerome Ehlers), whose brother Harrison has been interned in a madhouse for thirty years after slaughtering his two children in a satanic ritual. Danny has nightmares and notes that the behavior of his siblings is weird. Further, he finds that they have drawn the cubby house exactly identical to the drawing made by the diseased children.

"Cubbyhouse" is not an unforgettable or great horror B-movie. However, it is not so bad as the IMDb User Rating (2.9) indicates. The story is not original or scary and has many flaws, like for example, how could Lynn's sister ignore the past of the evil house or many characters that dies or vanish without any further consequence, but it is enjoyable. For a 2001 low-budget film, the special effects are reasonable despite the rip-off "Evil Dead" camera work. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Casa do Terror" ("House of the Terror")

Good potential - sorry result

[xlars · 5/10 · 5 January 2005]

Consider going to a tailor with the finest raw silk and asking him to make you a perfect suit. If you have a good tailor he'll do his utmost to please you... But it happens that when you pick up the suit, you'd be disappointed. Really disappointed, because you could have bought a better suit off-the-rack. This is what happened to the story behind this movie. Unfortunately. Wonder what would have happened if this director/team had produced Lord of the Rings? Probably the same - they would probably not have the ability to understand that they had gold in their hands - and reversed the process of the sorcerers stone - to make lead out of gold - not the other way around.

Don't expect to be on the edge of your seat...

[natashabowiepinky · 4/10 · 28 March 2014]

Another day, another dodgy horror. Oh well, let's get on with it. There's this outside shed, ya see? And children used to be sacrificed to the devil there. This would understandably affect property values, so you can't blame estate agent Craig McLachlan (!!) from being less than forthcoming when he sells it and the adjoining house to a single mother, her rebellious teenage son and two smaller kiddywinks. It isn't long before the littlest ones are sneaking off at night to the hut, cutting their arms and experiencing a complete change in personality. A sign something demonic is on the loose... or maybe they're going through that difficult emo phase?

When the biggest threat is KILLER GIANT VINES, you know you're in trouble. The silliness of the enterprise is summed up by the final 'epic' confrontation, which if nothing else, breaks down new boundaries in excessive incoherence. As for the victims, the ones you expect to perish bite the bullet... in the exact order you'd anticipate, too. The only thing shocking here is the glimpse or two we get of an early 21st century computer which seems as outdated now as MySpace. What's that, you ask? Exactly. 4/10

Enjoyable, but silly

[The_Missus · 13 July 2002]

Called The Cubbyhouse on release in the U.K, The Third Circle is an Australian made horror movie. A divorcee and her three children move back to her native Australia with her, and they start to settle in to their new home, but the two younger children become strangely obsessed with the Cubbyhouse in the Garden. Their older brother Danny, along with next door's teenage daughter Bronwyn discover the Cubbyhouse's gruesome secret - 30 years previous, a man allegedly murdered his two young children there.

There appears to be a demonic spirit in the Cubbyhouse, and Danny and Bronwyn fight to save the children from it and to destroy the Cubbyhouse for good.

Better than I thought it would be, but still pretty cheesy and.. y'know.. Craig McLachlan... but if there's nothing else on, or all the big movie are out to rent already, it's worth a shot, expect to roll your eyes at the silly ending though ;)

Quiz Time

[Theo Robertson · 2/10 · 10 June 2003]

A question for you : A family go to a new house and get stalked by demonic forces . Which film am I talking about ? Every horror film you`ve seen ? Yes that`s true but that`s not the answer I`m looking for . I`ll narrow it down by saying there`s a lot of teen angst scenes . Doesn`t help ? Well there`s lots of bits where the characters are stalked by a creature and you see the characters through the creature`s POV . No futher forward ? Okay there`s a dream sequence involving lots of blood ? Could still be any horror film you say . Oh gawd this could take weeks so I`ll say the film I`m talking about features loads of Aussies many of whom have appeared in NEIGHBOURS and HOME AND AWAY . Yes that`s right the film is THE THIRD CIRCLE ( aka CUBBYHOUSE ) and do you understand what the above exercise is about ? It`s about me pointing out how THE THIRD CIRCLE is absolutely no different from any horror film that`s been made

Unspeakably bad

[scarybabe9 · 2/10 · 24 November 2002]

Suffice it to say that this substandard B has nothing to save it - not an interesting plot or even one tolerably decent actor. Josh Leonard of Blair Witch fame does little to help matters. Do yourself a favor and leave this one on the shelf at your local video store.

What was this????

[sauravjoshi85 · 1/10 · 27 January 2019]

Was it a horror flick? No. Was it a comedy? No. Was it a drama? No. Was it a action movie? No. Was it a torture of 1.30 hours? YESSSS. Rest you folks are intelligent.

It's about time a film like this was made!

[nu-arc · 10/10 · 4 July 2007]

When I was 13 years old, I brainstormed ideas on making a moving about an evil wendy house or play house when I caught sight of one standing in the cool shade in my friend's back yard. And one year later, the film was created. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT! AND I NEVER KNEW ABOUT IT!! And it was only until this year, I caught sight of the film at a store which I was working at. And I bought it immediately. And more, the had a change of environment, it was set in Austalia. The production designer did a brilliant job with the sets. I DIGGED all those clusters of candles with their flames dancing around in the darkness of the backyard leading to the cubby house where the massacre took place! That was a BRILLIANT shot and with the father running to the wendy house in slow motion, WAS EVEN BETTER!

The sound designer also did a brilliant job with all those bizarre effects with the teenage son waking up after every nightmare he had. And the sharp sounds used for the raging, blood-thirsty vines sounded magnificent and the monstrous snarls of the serpent god which possessed the cubby house were FABOULOUS!

And I would like to congratulate the director for bringing a horror story about an evil wendy house to life. It had good scares, good laughs and it was a fun movie to watch. And your actors performed BRILLIANTLY!! IT WAS ABOUT TIME A FILM LIKE THIS WAS MADE. It was OUTSTANDING! I am so impressed with your work! CONGRATULATIONS! You must make more movies like this one.

Naff, but fun

[Unicorn-9 · 6/10 · 8 October 2006]

'Cubbyhouse' is one of the naffest decently-budgeted horror movies I've seen in years: a family move into an old house that's been empty for years only to be attacked by demons from the garden shed. As someone else mentioned, the plot is basically identical to every single naff horror movie of the 80s and utterly predictable as a result, but set in Australia, with an obviously deliberate American angle for the international market, and full of bad CG effects rather than bad latex effects.

Yet despite that, I found it surprisingly entertaining: technically it's decently made other than the bad CG effects, the plot isn't totally nonsensical, the kids don't do a bad job in their parts and the older actors manage to deliver lines with a straight face that would leave most of us laughing... the biggest flaw is that Lauren Hewett never gets naked.

It's probably fair to say, though, that a large part of the fun comes just from the cast, and trying to work out which Australian soap opera you've previously seen them in: it's kind of like 'Neighbours' with serial killers and tentacle monsters.

Cheesy

[turtlewax182 · 11 October 2002]

I didn't expect much seeing as how even the rental box looked somewhat cheesy. Here it's called 'Hellion: The Devil's Playground' how spooky, too bad it didn't live up to it's title. I didn't like any of the characters, well, except Danny, he was the only one who didn't annoy me. I found myself laughing at situations instead of being scared. The deaths, special effects and even acting is incredibly lame. This plot has been done many times before, and more creatively at that. I didn't feel sorry for the characters dying at all, only thing I regret is paying 3 dollars too much for this video. I wouldn't recommend it unless you like low-budget, unoriginal horrors.

When do we get Cubbyhouse 2?

[Breakers26 · 10/10 · 6 January 2003]

I demand a sequel! Just bought the DVD and boy is it worth the money! I'm sure we'll see a lot of the cast in the future, especially Joshua Tainsh-Biagi (Ivan), that guy was chilling to watch in the demonic scenes, he'll go far!!! Would definately recommend, a hidden gem!!!

This film was actually pretty kool. Besides the digital effects,

[D3ATHB4DISHONOR · 7/10 · 25 December 2002]

This film was actually pretty kool. Besides the digital effects, everything else was just kool to watch. Of course this was a 'B' movie, but you have to aspect some odd moments. I have not seen many foreign horror films, so I do not have much to compare it to. This was more of a thriller/horror film. Had some good laughs as well.

7/10

(I grade out of a scale between 1 to 10. If it is really bad, it will be under 5. 5 is average. 10 is a most own. 3 and under are for those true movie freaks. Please note: When you reply, either to a post, email, or comment and it is sent to me via email, please include all of the message that I posted or stated. I go through so many emails, it is hard to remember what I was talking about.)

Another Henry James rip-off.

[dbdumonteil · 17 July 2004]

This is "the turn of the screw" all over again.Jack Clayton made a classic out of it in 1961,with his "the innocents".He did not need any special effects (or so few) but the extraordinary black and white cinematography and Deborah Kerr's performance made it a winner.

"Cubby house" is a rehash of that story ,two possessed nice children in a place where crimes took place a long time ago.The actress who plays the mother was born in 1968,and her costar who plays her son Danny in 1975!This is really eerie ,not the movie.

This is the kind of stuff that has been done a thousand times or more.Do take "the innocents " instead:it must be available on DVD.

Not the best or the scariest.

[belleofthyball · 21 July 2011]

I actually used to live where this movie was filmed. The scenes with the titular cubbyhouse were filmed at Duranbah Primary School in NSW, basically in the middle of nowhere. The movie is pretty simple- an American family move to the Australian suburbs and there's something wrong with the cubbyhouse in their backyard and everyone in town seems to know something about it. It dabbles in black magic and satanic rituals, sadly though this still didn't make it horrifying or chilling in the least. The acting is poor, as are the special effects. For something released in 2001 it feels more like an 80's movie. It doesn't do a great job of sucking you in but it was an interesting enough concept.