I really expected something more from this movie. Despite the "House" franchise being very weak, the previous films proved to be more interesting. Without imagination, creativity or an effort to give us something really appealing, this film tried, however, to follow up the story of the first film. It was, still, a cold ending to a franchise that never really heated up.
The script returns to the figure of Roger Cobb, protagonist of the first film. After all the adventures of the first film, he's going to receive a house from his deceased father... which makes me think about the luck of this guy, who spends his life inheriting houses from several dying relatives... houses who are always haunted or have something supernatural. In fact, the film quite copies the structure of the initial film, with slight nuances that don't erase the feeling of "wait, I've seen this somewhere"...
Willian Katt returns to the role he played in the franchise's first film, but the quality of his work as an actor has notably declined. Without adequate material and without a direction demanding more, the actor is kind of left to himself and doesn't give us something really appealing. To make things even more difficult, the actor sees his character die extraordinarily quickly, so his appearance in this film is basically episodic. Despite her youth, Melissa Clayton also deserves a positive note, doing very well and stealing our attention, especially in the more comical scenes. Terri Treas also looks good to me in her character, even though the script reduces her to a screaming machine. Scott Burkholder is a cliché but fun villain. On the negative side, I must mention Ned Romero's very stereotyped performance and Denny Dillon's irritating acting, giving us the most out of place character.
With a mediocre script, poor direction and an uninspired cast, the redeeming characteristics of this film lie in the production values and, particularly, in the sensible and intelligent use of very good special effects, in which the production spent a good part of its budget. The movie is not very scary, it can almost be considered a family movie. The sets were also well-designed, the cinematography fulfills its role without any demerit and the editing seems to me quite discreet.
The script returns to the figure of Roger Cobb, protagonist of the first film. After all the adventures of the first film, he's going to receive a house from his deceased father... which makes me think about the luck of this guy, who spends his life inheriting houses from several dying relatives... houses who are always haunted or have something supernatural. In fact, the film quite copies the structure of the initial film, with slight nuances that don't erase the feeling of "wait, I've seen this somewhere"...
Willian Katt returns to the role he played in the franchise's first film, but the quality of his work as an actor has notably declined. Without adequate material and without a direction demanding more, the actor is kind of left to himself and doesn't give us something really appealing. To make things even more difficult, the actor sees his character die extraordinarily quickly, so his appearance in this film is basically episodic. Despite her youth, Melissa Clayton also deserves a positive note, doing very well and stealing our attention, especially in the more comical scenes. Terri Treas also looks good to me in her character, even though the script reduces her to a screaming machine. Scott Burkholder is a cliché but fun villain. On the negative side, I must mention Ned Romero's very stereotyped performance and Denny Dillon's irritating acting, giving us the most out of place character.
With a mediocre script, poor direction and an uninspired cast, the redeeming characteristics of this film lie in the production values and, particularly, in the sensible and intelligent use of very good special effects, in which the production spent a good part of its budget. The movie is not very scary, it can almost be considered a family movie. The sets were also well-designed, the cinematography fulfills its role without any demerit and the editing seems to me quite discreet.