STORMHOUSE is a British sci-fi/horror outing that flirts with the found footage genre in its telling of a secret military project accidentally releasing a supernatural entity inside a research station. Said supernatural entity then goes on a rampage of destruction while a female researcher tries to figure out a way to stop it.So far so good, you might think. And the potential for an interesting film is right here. However, it's the awful execution that really lets this movie down. I understand that the budget was very tight, but is that any reason to shoot a film in near total darkness throughout? Aside from a couple of well-lit interludes, this is one of the darkest films I've ever seen. And shaky camera-work and pitch black background is not a good combination. Trying to make out what's supposed to be on the screen is half of the challenge here.The rest of the film is an odyssey of attempted scare scenes and mild gore effects. The cast was unknown to me but are quite adequate for this type of film. It's just a pity that the film is so dark and difficult to watch, as it could have been a BLAIR WITCH contender had more care been taken with the look and feel of it.

Fresh faced Hayley Sands arrives at the Stormhouse thinking she's got a ghost to deal with - but before long, it's the people that prove to be problem.Military personnel, long exposed to the haunting influence of a trapped paranormal entity have become twitchy, paranoid about the security of their project and indifferent about hiding an amoral attitude towards human life.These weaknesses manifest as glorious opportunities for the ghost to exploit, which it does to great effect.If you're prepared to accept a production on a limited budget, then there are some great things in this film. We have the the horror of what people can do to one another - well set up by the curious hole in the cage. We have a conflict in morality over the Guantanamo style treatment of a terrorist. We have betrayal of trust & the dysmorphic sense of sense of self importance brought on by isolation. The story plays a great slight of hand with the audience when all hell breaks loose & neatly reveals how the entity was first captured on the way out.As for the thing itself. I enjoyed its playful nature. It made for malevolence from a place of innocence. Could it have been better? Budget aside (which isn't everything) I wanted a bit more cohesion in places. More lightweight banter from the resident to assist with character depth - although it's not bereft. I also felt that the general darkness of the Stormhouse made it harder for the locations to assist in taking you through the story. i.e. - we needed some visual separation to help frame the different scenes as we repaint the story in our memory.So in the end, I appreciated the ideas here that are so lacking in many other horrors.

A couple of the average reviews here, and also the odd review I've seen elsewhere, just go to show that everything's subjective, because I absolutely loved this movie when I saw it at the Edinburgh Festival where it premiered last year.I don't want to spoiler anything, as there are some nice twists and turns along the way (and at least one killer in the final act!) and by now you'll be familiar with the central idea. New York psychic girl (played by Katherine Flynn - although weirdly there are currently a Katherine and a Katie FLynn in the IMDb credits!) is brought to a top- secret military base to speak to a caged ghost. She gets along with it fine and they all live happily after... ahem! Maybe not... :)Sure, the sound is a bit dodgy in places - maybe a result of this being a reportedly low-budget film. But for me, there was nothing low budget about the atmosphere or the super-creepy goings-on. Not to mention the occasional outburst of ultra-violence (especially one scene - you'll know when you see it!). Killer stuff. Really loved Grant Masters as the Major - a well-rounded, low-key villain, never OTT, but really intimidating in a different way.Like films such as Session 9 or Insidious before it, Stormhouse rose up in my brain when I woke up in the middle of the night. Brrr! It's actually pretty disturbing, it's stayed with me - and that's rare in a horror film. I highly recommend that, if you're open to indie films which can't afford millions of super-flashy FX (although there are plenty of good ones here!), you enter the Stormhouse. Just don't expect to leave!

Story/Writing: It's a pretty solid claustrophobic story. It's interesting and generally well-written, with only a few "What the heck?" moments. The dialogue is generally good, though the minor characters are fairly stock, interchangeable, and pretty forgettable. One or two of them almost come through sometimes as interesting in their own right, but then the moments are gone. Still, it all works pretty well, and the pace was okay, which is better than most films. And I believe the ending worked. I liked it. (7/10)Direction/Acting: It's atmospheric, to be sure, just sometimes a bit too dark to see what's going on on-screen. Considering the budget and likely time constraints they were under, I can understand why they made the choices they did. Still, however, a bit too dark too often. The pace was generally good, with only a few short lulls (and they weren't distracting). (6.5/10)The acting was pretty good across the board, though it seemed the supporting cast's characters were limited by either the script or the director's choices on pacing and story... or possibly both. It was obvious the talent was there, and more from the supporting cast really could've livened things up for tension, in my opinion. It could've given it that feel they were looking for, the atmosphere from John Carpenter's "The Thing". Stormhouse's ensemble cast were good, the main cast in particular. I kept wanting more, though, and that's the biggest drawback for my money. (5/10)