***MAY CONTAIN PLOT SPOILERS***Nick Di Santo (Luke Kleintank) what's in a name, has a special ability in that he can see how people are going to die. He has a small circle of friends and his mom is in a mental institution and only now is he seeing their deaths after 23 years. Nick inherits a house from his mom, an abandoned home which has things in the walls. He explores with his pregnant wife Eve (Alex McKenna) and meet Lilith (Lacey Anzelc) and Samael (Ethan S. Smith) and Seth (Tobin Bell) with an ax. Gosh. Where is this headed?At this point it was pretty easy to guess who is Nick's father...his reason for visiting the house. Believe it or not I liked the film better with Frankenstein in it.I grew bored watching the film. The building of the story and character was haphazard and ineffective. The actors weren't really that great except for Tobin Bell.Mediocre rental.

I noticed this film received a lot of negativity. So I was slightly apprehensive about it, as I am with a lot of low budget horrors. But I can honestly say this is probably one of the best low budget horrors I've ever seen. I was entertained from beginning to end, I never took my eyes off the screen. The lead actor I thought was brilliant. He is a great actor and even though this is a supernatural film, he made his role believable. Hats off to him. The supporting cast were good, especially the girlfriend and best friend characters. I have never seen a film like this, it was a refreshing take on the haunted house genre. The only thing I don't really like is the title though. Not very imaginative. And the twist in the middle of the film I never saw coming it was fantastic. The only reason I have not rated this film a 10 is because I was slightly confused by the end. Wasn't exactly sure what happened. But I will definitely be watching it again, and once I'm clued up, I'm sure I'll be increasing my score to a 10. I've also seen from the director, Jeepers Creepers which is brilliant, (another original film), Rosewood Lane which had a brilliant twist and the episode In Sickness and In Health from the TV show Fear, Itself; again another fabulous twist.

All those title changes, how is one supposed to keep track of them? I did watch this movie at a Festival and it was called "Dark House". You can still find it with that title here, but apparently it changed. Maybe the buzz was not so good and they decided to change it to get a fresh clean sheet/start? Who really knows? And who really knows what's up with horror movies starting off strong and getting weaker by the minute ... like this one right here.It's a shame, because the mood this creates at the beginning suggests it would (and could) be stronger than it actually is. But it falls (and fails thereby) into clichés and ridiculous twists, that will leave your head spinning faster than Linda Blairs head in the Exorcist (not in a good way obviously).

Given the type of past the director has, it's inevitable that any movie Victor Salva makes is going to be scrutinized far more than most. From an objective standpoint, this is a film that has promising start and if not for some glaring flaws, this film could have been another sleeper hit along the lines of Jeepers Creepers.The story follows a young man who, on his 23rd birthday, visits his mother in a mental hospital. The goal is that he'll hopefully learn something- anything- about his father and why he has a certain supernatural gift. Instead of getting answers, however, he's simply dealt the deed to an abandoned house following his mother's untimely death shortly after his visit. To go further into the plot would ruin what appeal the film has, as the movie does manage to sneak in some twists and turns to a haunted house genre which has been run into the ground with hits and misses over the recent years.The plot hook is interesting, and like our protagonist, we are largely left in the dark as to what's going on and why he is in danger for the majority of the film's running time. Furthermore, the acting is serviceable, if not better than your typical straight-to-DVD release. Tobin Bell, in particular, steals every scene he's in as the mysterious Seth- a man lurking around the house our main character seeks to stake claim to. He makes the most of what is a rather minimal part.Unfortunately, the film suffers from what is your typical problem with low budget genre fare like Dark House: for whatever good idea the film has up its sleeve, it shoots itself in the foot when key parts of the plot are glossed over. This is especially true by the end, in which it feels as though the filmmakers were running out of time/money and needed to cop out on the finale. As a result, the film is plenty of build up and very little payoff.Say what you will about Victor Salva, but he does do his best to make the movie look polished, and he still knows how to create suspense. Here, he manages to squeeze in a couple of rather tense sequences in the latter act of the film. You can tell Salva is trying to capture the spirit of Jeepers Creepers in this movie (particularly in the guise of the numerous axe-wielding figures that lurk in the shadows... even Tobin Bell sort of resembles The Creeper a bit, albeit a definitively more human version of him). Still, it's not enough to make one forget about some gaping plot holes and rushed character arcs. It's a shame; Dark House had some promise, but it's ultimately hindered by shortcomings that are too hard to ignore.