House on Elm Lake

Heading out to the countryside, a man and his family move into the local lake-side cabin to start a new life together but the longer they stay there come to find the house haunted by demonic spirits, forcing him to become possessed and them down for a Satanic sacrifice. This was a pretty enjoyable effort when it wanted to be. Among the more enjoyable elements here comes from the solid and chilling setup involving the escalating curse. That the discovery of the book and the weird events occurring behind him gets this going rather nicely, much like the imaginary friend being involved and the strange voices throughout the house gives this all a rather chilling feel when added to the backstory about the follower and his hold over the house. There's some great work with this setup to give the film a great base to work with as it builds upon these elements quite well. As well, there's a lot to enjoy about the corruption and temptation that occurs by staying at the house. The main scene here, from the discovery of the book and resulting seance while he's being pleasured by the spirits inside the house, creates a highly creepy atmosphere similar to the later scenes of the babysitter being stalked through the house. This all leads to the fantastic final half where everything gets turned around into a series of frenetic encounters with the possessed entities and some chilling stalking involving them trying to get away from the demons which is a great setup to the heart-wrenching and brutal conclusion. These give the film quite a lot to like although this one does have a few problems. The main issue associated here is the wholly underwhelming storyline that has several big problems associated with the setup. There's very little reason why this one rushes through everything the way it does since there's no build-up to what they mean, namely the discovery of the journal in the shed. Considering the implications and discoveries made inside, this one doesn't introduce it or its contents at all, instead merely dropping it with no clues or context and expect it to be understandable, much like the fate of the original family which is a huge plot point just dropped as if it meant nothing. Moreover, there's a problematic factor with the film resorting to the same cheap jump-scares over and over again. It's incredibly tiresome to have the same scenes of the camera cutting to the demonic entity standing in the room maniacally laughing or roaring in the face of their victim with the distorted filter on their voice. The last issue, which isn't truly detrimental, is the overlong finale that hits the appropriate heart-wrenching touches yet runs on a good few minutes longer than necessary which makes the film go on more than necessary. These are the main drawback factors for the film. Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity, children-in-jeopardy and drug use.

This movie had so many chances to be half decent. Although the acting was subpar the story could have saved it. But nope! The story fell into sad attempts to be scary and only ended up a letdown. Not sure why I keep giving these movies a chance...must be a glutton for punishment hahaha

It was poorly produced, poorly directed, the movie is the worst. I wish I could get back the 26.4 minutes it took from my life. I felt like it was going to turn into a low budget porno movie, right before I almost pulled out my eyelashes from the acting that caused twitching in both my eyes. Hope this is helpful. If you're into self torture, go for it. If you value your time and your self worth, skip it. Ok bye

source: House on Elm Lake

Eric (Andrew Hollingworth) and Hayley (Becca Hirani) with young daughter Penny (Faye Goodwin) in tow move into a lake front property n hopes of a new start. Things start looking bad almost immediately. A snake skin bound book is found full of creepy drawings and disturbing photos. Sleep is disturbed by the vision of an old naked man walking about the house. And Penny has a "new friend" she has found... a burnt up, old, ugly, doll. And at one time this property was considered "too good to be true". Hayley and one of her friends (Lorena Andrea) do some investigating and discover the previous owner had gone mad killing his wife and family. It is believed this type activity may have started centuries ago. Bloody and gross, but not overly haunting.

Boring, bad acted, slow, forced to the core... There's nothing appealing or even reasonably satisfying with this movie. This was truly awful. And I've seen a lot of bad movies... Even the little gore in it is bad...

Ok so it's not going to win best picture, but on the budget they had, it was good. Andrew Hollingworth did a particularly good job. Just go with it and stop expecting every movie to be shakespeare

Freddy Krueger? Maybe. Jason? Sounds pretty cool. House at the end of the Street? THAT'S IT! All three!

This 2017 film is a remake of an earlier picture shot three years earlier, with this later version enjoying more of a budget. It's good, solid stuff. Directed and co-written by James Klass, the cinematography treats us to many slow-moving establishing shots and interesting, often unsettling angles. It isn't ground-breaking - the story has been done often before in various shapes or sizes. I like the leads - they are very naturalistic and personable. Prolific actress Becca Hirani/Fletcher in particular, makes a good impression as cheery, dare I suggest sexy, Hayley, slowly affected by what's going on in her new dream house. Images of a naked old man, possibly over-used, are nevertheless creepy: kudos to Tony Mendez as Elliot. Faye Goodwin as daughter Penny bares a passing resemblance to a young Linda Blair, and Andrew Hollingworth impresses as husband Eric. Penny's babysitter's not much cop. She follows a recounting of the house's grim past to Penny with a cheery, 'Anyway ... bed-time!' Initially, I had a problem with the comparative tender ages of mum and dad to have a grown-up child, but this is explained. 'Elm Lake' is not without problems - the voice modulation is repetitive and overdone and the pacing is often sluggish. The messy finale in particular would have been far more effective with a little pruning. A mixed bag perhaps, but the good far outweighs the bad. My score is 7 out of 10.

In which a naked old man frequently enters into the body of a younger man, causing problems within the younger man's marriage....a plot description which admittedly doesn't immediately sound like a satanic horror film. House on Elm Lake is actually a remake of an earlier British horror film called Lucifer's Night (2014), whose makers decided to do a second, more moneyed and professional, take on the same material. Its the type of low budget British horror film that tends to turn up on the DVD shelves of supermarkets, usually accompanied by an excitable sleeve quote comparing it to other, better known films, in this case "Nightmare on Elm Street meets Amityville Horror". If anything though The Shining seems to have been a greater influence on House on Elm Lake's story of a couple, Eric and Hayley Jones, who relocate to a universally unwanted remote house by a lake with their young daughter in tow. The reason the house remains universally unwanted is that the previous occupant, Elliot Mandre had murdered his entire family then killed himself during a satanic ritual. Soon after taking up residence, the house's bad mojo takes its toll on the already troubled Eric, who begins pissing blood and under Elliot's evil influence commiting adultery, rape, murder, cannibalism and domestic abuse. Elliot who is essentially an amalgamation of The Shining's Grady and the naked lady in room 237 also makes his own presence felt in the household. Cutting an obscene, sexually threatening figure. Whether he is perched naked on the end of a girl's bed or murdering a family friend by gouging out her eyes. Tony Manders, a former civil servant turned British horror film regular, gives a particularly fearless performance as Elliot Mandre, a role that requires him to be fully naked for the majority of his screen time. To give an idea of what a small world the current British horror scene is...House on Elm Lake was filmed at the same house as Mother Krampus (2017) which shares at least four cast members with this film, and was recently remade as 'The Candy Witch' by this film's leading lady, Becca Hirani, who also directs and produces films under the name 'Rebecca J Matthews'. At 100 minutes, House on Elm Lake is leisurely paced, but has its rewards for those prepared to stick around. Just don't go in expecting an Evil Dead type ride in the fast lane without any brakes, this is more like a Sunday afternoon drive with your grandparents, albeit one where they end up going insane, taking off all their clothes and gouging out eyeballs.