The title of the film does it no favours, as it is too reminiscent of the disappointing 1984 horror comedy "Bloodbath at the House of Death".
However the presence Ian McNeice was enough to persuade me that the film was worth a look.
McNiece doing his best Niall McGuinness impersonation enthralls with his straight to camera welcome, and pondering philosophy is both disconcerting and disturbing, beginning the slow reveal to the end of film twist.
As "The Architect" our host first proudly reads us the diary of a former caretaker of his house who decentered in to madness owing to a growing obsession with the ghost of the grey lady who supposedly walks the halls of the house forever seeking her lost love and repentance for her suicide, as he envies the victims of the blitz exploding far away in London, but which he imagines all about him.
Over tea, the architects relates the story of a young couple who inherited the house from an Eisoptrophobic uncle, who as a condition of the legacy insists no mirrors be ever brought in to the house, as it turns out for good reason.
Far and away the highlight of the film is the third story, which could truly have been the entire film.
A young student takes up residence in the house to work on his scientific studies in the year 1888.
The local Vicar warns him that the village is a cursed place the house especially so, terrorised by a ravening beast of the night , that feed for the previous year of the villagers, until it was trapped and mortally wounded in the last days of the winter.
In the Local Tavern "The Slaughtered wolf" the Priests words prove true as the locals warn of how strangers are not welcome, because when strangers arrive evil follows and the beast goes abroad.
In the following day the young man becomes aware of a wretched vagrant moving about the lanes outside of the house, and taking pity on him follows the unfortunate man to an abandoned crypt, where he has made a home for himself, surviving on scraps and warmth from candles.
The youngster and the man become friends and the student exchanges food for company and stories of history, nursing him back to health so that he made leave the village and start a new life in one of the great cities.
However when the killings begin again the student begins to believe he made a terrible mistake.
The twist to the third tale is both horrible and disturbing, a tale not as it seems of a supernatural monster, but of something far far worse.
The last story of the conversion of the house to a motel in the modern day is a simple demonic possession story and is probably the weakest of the tales.
The architect then thanks his audience for their rapt attention and we for the first time see who they are. They are the victims from his stories and the residents of the hotel, who have served as inspiration for both his stories and for his crimes , as we are shown again the same deaths we have seen in the tales, but carried out simply and efficiently by the architect himself around the house and the building work being carried on there.
The film fails only because of a lack strong direction and low production values. The over flowery dialogue, though this is obviously supposed to be the poor writing style of the architect himself, cannot really be excused since we have been given no reason to know that.
The dedication to Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in the end credits is a nice touch and shows the loved that went in to creating the movie.
My suggestions, rewrite and expand it, change the title and sell it as a TV series, and it would be a hit.
The last story of the conversion of the house to a motel in the modern day is a simple demonic possession story and is probably the weakest of the tales.
The architect then thanks his audience for their rapt attention and we for the first time see who they are. They are the victims from his stories and the residents of the hotel, who have served as inspiration for both his stories and for his crimes , as we are shown again the same deaths we have seen in the tales, but carried out simply and efficiently by the architect himself around the house and the building work being carried on there.
The film fails only because of a lack strong direction and low production values. The over flowery dialogue, though this is obviously supposed to be the poor writing style of the architect himself, cannot really be excused since we have been given no reason to know that.
The dedication to Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in the end credits is a nice touch and shows the loved that went in to creating the movie.
My suggestions, rewrite and expand it, change the title and sell it as a TV series, and it would be a hit.