Review: Death House

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2019
Images from the Internet

Death House

Directed by B Harrison Smith
Entertainment Factory / Cleopatra Entertainment / Dark Coast / MVD Visual
87 minutes, 2018
www.cleopatra-entertainment.com
www.mvdvisual.com

This film is a who’s who of horror, and for that I have been anticipating seeing it. I’ve heard it’s gotten some questionable reviews from viewers, but of course, I’ll decide for myself as everything is subjective.



Barbara Crampton

Usually, I’ll talk about the cameos towards the end of a review, but to mix it up a bit, here are just some of the people involved: Adrienne Barbeau (Swamp Thing), Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Barbara Crampton (Re-animator and From Beyond), Sid Haig (Spider Baby), Kane Hodder (a five-time Jason Voorhees), Lloyd Kaufman (Troma Films), Camille Keaton (I Spit on Your Grave), Bill Mosley (House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Tony Todd (Candyman), Dee Wallace Stone (The Howling), Danny Trejo (Machete), Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior), Bill Oberst Jr., Sean Whalen, and supreme-o Scream Queens Debbie Rochon, Brinke Stevens¸ and Tiffany Shepis. It was also co-written by the late-great Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface in the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; d. 2015). Now that’s a roll call. Going in, I get the feeling most of these appearances will be short and sweet, but still… I’m just sayin’…

And we’re good to go, so it’s time to hit the play button.



\Cortney Palm and Joe Novak

Agents Trina Boon (Cortney Palm) and Joe Novak (Cody Longo) are given a tour into a secret prison where only the most heinous and insane murderers are stored by the government. Employing a Dante reference, it goes down nine levels until it reaches the worst of the worst, and possibly supernatural beings associated with Hell itself.

After an incident, the place is in lockdown… well, actually it might be more accurate to say that it is unlockdown, as all the prisoners are let out to roam. The skels and the agents are working their way down to the lowest level for their own reasons. The results are gruesome at best, walking down long dark tunnels with flashlights at worst.

Based on Hansen’s screenplay, there is a fine mixture of social and religious commentary, and a philosophical bent, rather than merely relying on blood and gore – of which there is plenty. This both works for and against the story, as it tries to be too many things at the same time. The commentary and psychology patterns itself after A Clockwork Orange, though it comes across as preachy rather than informative. But no complaints here about the splatter SFX, which looks great.

This could have been a great retelling of TheWarriors (1979)  as the agents try the levels to get to their destination with killers waiting around every bend, or even be seen as a video game-style of gaining tiers, but rather it jumbles around and focuses more on dark hallways and flashlights, basically skipping most floors. One could argue that it might be seen as derivative to do the floor-by-floor bit, but there are so many references of other films (e.g., Rochon plays a chainsaw wielding Leatherlace, as opposed to Leatherface), I don’t believe it would have mattered.



Kane Hodder

As I suspected, most of the cast – and it is frickin’ huge – appears in cameo form, but some are extended, and others are main characters (e.g., Crampton, Wallace Stone, Hodder). Honestly, it’s fun picking them out of the crowd, but it also is kind of a waste of talent. Having people like Brinke and Tiffany just standing in the background of a group shot made me sad. During the director’s commentary, Smith self-importantly calls this a “time capsule” and wonders who will be interesting when these horror stars are gone. There will be new stars, as there always are, but again, while it’s good to see these familiar (and semi-recognizable) faces, there needs to be more interaction with the audience. If there is enough time to show this much wandering around the complex, interface is also possible.

 

There were times I had no idea what was going on, between the dark and the philosophical, and was looking forward to the Smith commentary track, which actually was quite useful in clearing up things a bit, even if it was just for no reason other than Smith positing that “Jason kept coming back to life, and it’s never explained how in the films” [paraphrased by me]. I didn’t really need him repeating so much dialog that was onscreen, but still it was very much worth the listen.

Along with the commentary, the extras include a swath of Cleopatra trailers and a slide show, and there are nine interviews with the cast and crew with all but two coming in at less than two minutes,

Am I sorry to have watched this? No, I don’t think that would be an accurate statement. There are things to like about the film, but honestly, considering the firepower of its cast and crew, there are definitely moments that dragged that could have been excised (e.g., those pesky long hallway scenes in the dark), and replaced with acting rather than standing in the background for some of those onscreen.

And for those who care, there is a sequel supposedly is in the works on the origin story for some of the characters, and I’m curious to see it, honestly.