Director: Fionn Watts, Toby Watts
Writer: Fionn Watts, Toby Watts (Screenplay)
Starring: Rebecca Calienda, Grace Courtney, Mathilde Darmady, Julie Higginson, William Holstead, Helen Mackay, James Rottger
Plot: In a remote Scottish castle, an irreverent writer faces terrifying consequences when his daughter falls prey to an evil curse lurking within the walls.
Tagline – Some stories should never be told
Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Playhouse starts as Jack Travis (Holstead) and his daughter Bee (Courtney) have moved into a remote Scottish castle to start a new life, as Jack looks to write his latest play, the castle has a history, one which Bee will become caught up in, while the neighbours Jenny (Mackay) and Callum (Rottger) have their own history with the castle, one they want to explore before it is too late.
When Jack starts to dive into his play, he starts to find himself mixing his own reality with the supernatural, as Bee vanishes, leaving Jenny and Callum in a race against time to save her.
Thoughts on Playhouse
Final Thoughts – Playhouse brings us a story which will try to dive into the ideas of legends inside Scottish castles which could find a family caught up in a loop, with one side trying to find a way to solve the problem, another is caught up in it without knowing what is going on. The ideas are all placed together well, but not everything comes off well in the execution of the horror side of this story, with very little happening on the horror side, being more about the eccentric nature of the Jack character. The performances through the film are not the strongest either, with the chemistry between the family members not clicking the way they could. The location of the remote castle is the strongest part of the film, which will give us the history that could have more horror stories about it. Overall this is a watchable horror that doesn’t get the scares it would like, even if it has a great idea.
