Director: Jeffrey A Brown
Writer: Jeffrey A Brown (Screenplay)
Starring: Liana Liberato, Noah Le Gros, Jake Weber, Maryanne Nagel
Plot: A romantic getaway for two troubled college sweethearts turns into a struggle for survival when unexpected guests – and the surrounding environment – exhibit signs of a mysterious infection.
Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Chilling
Story: The Beach House starts when couple Emily (Liberato) and Randall (Le Gros) look for a weekend getaway, only to find a couple Mitch (Weber) and Jane (Nagel) sharing the getaway home with them for a weekend, getting to talk life questions, diving into the science Emily has been studying for her whole life.
After a night on drinks and drugs, Emily and Randall wake up to discover something is very different, when Jane and Mitch are showing the side effects of a bigger problem they have been going through in an environmental change none of them saw coming.
Thoughts on The Beach House
Characters – Emily has spent her education system working on her study in the field of science, she looks at both the evidence and the philosophy of what could be in the world. She is looking forward to a weekend away with her boyfriend, only to be the one that doesn’t want to push the new friendship past just conversation and drinks. Randall is the boyfriend that’s family owns the vacation home, he has always supporting Emily even if he hasn’t followed the same big plan for his own life. Mitch and Jane are the older couple that have been given access to the home, they do come off strange at times, which does give us an uneasy feeling around them, even though they can come off normal at other times.
Performances – Liana Liberato in the leading role is great, showing herself to bring us a resourceful character through the film, outside of Liana’s performance, Jake Weber and Maryanne Nagel do give us the uncomfortable feeling we are expecting from their characters, while Noah Le Gros doesn’t get to make as big of an impact in the film.
Story – The story here follows a young couple that are going on a romantic getaway, only for their time to be interrupted by another couple before finding themselves in a battle to survive against a much bigger problem. This is a story that teases us early on with what we are going to be going through, early on we get the same feeling we got from watching ‘The Visit’ only for us to dive into the bigger unknown, which is the strongest part of the film, leaving us wondering to what is happening, never giving us much to work off. When it comes to pacing, the story doesn’t seem to be as even as it could be, with a lot of the pace, dropping right off before getting back to the exciting levels we hit during the story.
Horror – When it comes to the horror side of the The Beach House, we get the feeling of one before being unleashed with another one, which shows us just how horror can flow between subgenres with ease and not letting things get out of hand, with a creation that will bring the chills to the world.
Settings – The film uses the beach house as the primary location, we have a place that is meant for peace and relaxation, only for it to become the breeding ground for something much more sinister going on in the film.
Special Effects – The effects are only used for a couple of sequences, with one notable scene, which is the highlight of the film.
Scene of the Movie – Aftermath of the swim.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The slow meeting.
Final Thoughts – This is a horror that might have slow moments, but when we are unleashed with the true horror going on, we get chilling moments you will remember.
Overall: Chilling Horror.
