Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: Two adventurists attempt to explore a preserved house under a lake that is obviously haunted.
Review: "The Deep House" is better than reviews would have you believe, but it squanders the potential it had to be something extraordinary. It's a shame, because the core plot about the house is interesting and could have been vastly expanded upon. It's hard to explain--it's as if the filmmakers were rushing the story along when they could have taken their time to build up the tension. After all, being under water already established suspense, and, without the credits, it's like an 80 minute movie. Still, I can appreciate how much was accomplished with this little film.
What works here is the incredible set design complemented by the intriguing story line. There's almost an allure--a curiosity to the story line to see what they do with the material. So many movies use the idea of a metaphorical, haunted house in (fill in the blank); like "Event Horizon" is a haunted house in space. Here, it's literally a haunted house under water! But that's kind of the issue unto itself--there's no meat to the story beyond that simple premise. Two characters, who are what we might call urban explorers, are led to this mysterious house when seeking out content to post online. They dive under a lake, explore the house, and things go wrong when they're supernaturally trapped inside the house. There was endless potential to make things creepy given the eerie setting, however, the haunting aspects crank up too quick due to a self-imposed time limit by the filmmakers showing the oxygen count of the two leads. We needed better pacing to allow for the ideas to better cook. Things like the the chandelier turning on should have come sooner before the audience saw a single ghost running around. I'm not saying we aren't given any tension--it's there--but the characters should have seen more warning signs telling them to leave.
Another major drawback is the ending. It was clearly foreshadowed from the onset with the main girl lying about how long she could hold her breath, but it doesn't change the fact that it's depressing knowing if she had just calmed down a little more she would have had enough oxygen to make it to the surface. With that said, I would have rather she made it to the surface and be taken out by the guy that led them to the house; he was the son of the ghosts anyway and this would have given him more of a purpose in the story. Speaking of which, a family of serial killers was a lame reveal, and the connection to the town being flooded was too incidental rather than a part of a cohesive idea.
I know this review probably comes off more negative than positive, but "The Deep House" is a decent movie with a lot of technical accomplishments and a fun, engaging story that pulls you in. I do think people should give this film a try despite the flaws, because it's short, gets right to the point and doesn't waste your time. Sure, most of the other major aspects can be on the mediocre side, but that doesn't make the movie bad by any means. I can see there being a level of disappointment--especially after the bleak ending--yet that doesn't hold things back.
Notable Moment: When the sister comes out of the movie screen. Cool, and sudden, scare, although, it would have been better if it was presented supernaturally rather than physically.
Final Rating: 6/10
