THERE'S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE (REVIEW)

Dir. Patrick Brice

Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield

The graduating class at Osborne High is being targeted by a masked assailant, intent on exposing the darkest secret of each victim, and only a group of misfit outsiders can stop the killings. You know the score, a group of teens get hunted down by a killer in a mask, only this time the mask is of the victim...

Like the films that heavily inspired it, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and URBAN LEGENDS, the murderer has a connection to them all and it quickly becomes a process of elimination before we can guess who the killer is. When compared to the likes of FEAR STREET and HALLOWEEN KILLS it's difficult to understand where the BBFC gave this an 18 rating.

The question is how does the killer manage to carry so many masks, one for each victim, especially when the ending becomes a massacre. More to the point why go through the effort of wearing masks, as the killer mentions, it takes a lot of time to make these masks, but showing people who they are, would a mirror mask not work better?

While the film has an entertaining first third, the movie becomes a drag as the pace quickly hits the halt button delving into the characters history. As such, the drive to the finale, while not dull, lacks the punch it perhaps deserves. Patrick Brice gave us the CREEP series, so knows how to make tense horror however here it shifts to a teen slasher but one that plays to the drama rather than the horror as if toning down the violence and death scenes to nurture a younger audience, which would be great if the film was a lower age rating. FEAR STREET did exactly the same but kept it fun which meant that despite some every teeny performances, it was enjoyable to older audiences who maybe cannot relate to the problems played out on screen. Despite a few creative kills to begin with, the rest are rather lacklustre in their execution which feels worse because of the bar the film sets at the start. There is an audience for it and hopefully will garner some level of fandom from its younger viewers but unfortunately the audience the film would initially stoke interest from will feel disappointed.

There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes and the performances are carried well even if unengaging so there's a lot to like about THERE'S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE but not enough to love.