I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)

A young nurse takes care of an elderly author who lives in a haunted house.

Director:

Oz Perkins (as Osgood Perkins)

Writer:

Oz Perkins (as Osgood Perkins)

Stars:

Ruth Wilson, Paula Prentiss, Bob Balaban

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Ruth Wilson	...	Lily
Paula Prentiss	...	Iris Blum
Bob Balaban	...	Mr. Waxcap
Lucy Boynton	...	Polly
Brad Milne	...	Groom
Daniel Chichagov	...	Mr. Darling
Erin Boyes	...	Young Iris
James Perkins	...	John
Beatrix Perkins	...	Wendy

Storyline

Stained by the brutal death of a young woman, the tranquil and vacant New England mansion of the prolific horror authoress, Iris Blum, has become her silent prison. To take care of the ageing writer who suffers from chronic dementia, the property's manager hires the gentle and soft-spoken live-in hospice nurse, Lily Saylor; however, this is far from an ordinary job. Little by little, Lily's imagination will run wild, as shadowy sightings of eerie female spectres blur the frail boundaries between reality and fantasy, fable and truth. Iris has talked about man's coexistence with the spectral realm in her novels that chill the bone to the marrow. Could her secluded white house at the end of the road be an aerial limbo caught in the middle of life and death?

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Plot Keywords:

haunted house | nurse | deformity | apparition | heart attack | 

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

It had been reported that Debbie Harry was initially attached to play Iris Blum, though the role ultimately went to Paula Prentiss. However, director Oz Perkins has stated that the role was always thought for Prentiss, who worked with his father in "Catch-22" (which also, incidentally, featured Bob Balaban) and remained friends since. Harry was indeed cast first, but dropped out a few weeks before filming began.

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Goofs

The Netflix trailer includes a copyright line with a misprint in the year, it states "Copyright MMXCI", a misprint for MMXVI (2016). MMXCI is 2091. The main film's opening copyright line also has a misprint. It reads "A Netflix Original Film. All rights reserved. MMXVI". This omits the word "Copyright" and the recognized symbol for it. (Copyright is properly asserted at the end of the end credits.)

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Quotes

Lily: I am very seldom required to wear white by my employers. But, anyway, I always do. It has always been that wearing white reassures the sick that I can never be touched, even as darkness folds in on them from every side, closing like a claw.

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Connections

Features Friendly Persuasion (1956)

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Soundtracks

You Keep Coming Back Like a Song
Written by Irving Berlin
Performed by Anthony Perkins and Urbie Green & His Orchestra
Courtesy of RCA Records

User Reviews

Not Your Average Horror, but Hardly a Horror Regardless

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House follows a nurse as she moves into the home of a retired horror author to take care of her, but soon learns of the house's dark past and the other residents living there.

This is not at all the movie I expected. It isn't littered with jump scares or even scary imagery, but rather relies heavily on it's atmosphere. It's a slow burn thriller for sure, and is more of a drama than an actual horror/thriller. There are very few aspects of the movie that are actually scary, and the parts that are don't pack a whole lot of punch. The first scare of the movie is actually the most unsettling, but after that point the whole movie just kind of stops trying. Regardless, it's an interesting idea with interesting pacing.

The writing starts out really good, with mostly realistic dialogue, but as soon as the first scare pops up the movie just dips down. In fact, there's hardly any dialogue to begin with anyway.

The movie is paced pretty well. It almost whips by, and I think that it is partially due to the fact that not much actually happens. Like I said, the movie relies heavily on atmosphere, and doesn't go for much in terms of physical scares. With no more than a 90 minute run- time there's not much room for content, and thus it goes by reasonably quickly.

Watching this movie I felt like there was more to it, like the writer and director Oz Perkins knew something about the story that wasn't directly stated during the movie. Maybe he tried to drop some subtle hint at it, but I didn't notice if there was.

Overall I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House is decent. It's not a typical horror/thriller by any means, but that doesn't make it necessarily better. It's a movie that by the end I felt like there was something I was missing, but I couldn't quite place what it was. Maybe I'll have to see it again. Regardless, it's a decent movie. In the end I would recommend it, just don't expect your classic horror/thriller, or you will likely be disappointed.

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 October 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

Filming Locations:

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paris Film, Zed Filmworks, Go Insane Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1