As with all things, they must evolve, especially in film when a genre becomes predictable and over used with the same old elements appearing in each film. The horror genre, over the last decade has branched out, taking in new material, influences and merging with other genres. Science fiction is the companion to horror, fear of the known and unknown go hand in hand creating numerous opportunities to get creative and that exactly what writer and director Jeffrey A. Brown has done.
Young couple Emily and Randal, escape to a beach house, for a romantic weekend but are surprised to find Mitch & Jane, friends of Randal’s father also taking advantage of the picturesque setting. The four guests have dinner together and later decide to partake in some edibles. With effects of the drugs and the strange mist in the air, things take a dark turn. Things are not what they seem in the morning. With the mist returning and the beach house becoming a more hostile environment, a weekend by the sea maybe wasn’t such a great idea.
As far as an ominous presence goes, the ocean looks and
feels like an idyllic view but as the film progresses, this shimmering inviting
blue mass is a deadly trap. With the mist appearing slowly each time the situation
changes for the characters, the impending doom is that much more terrifying. A
remote location, beautiful view and intruders unknown all screams; horror story.
But the weird blue lights, the strange mist and etherical and dusky colour
palette, says, science fiction. A clever and twisting feeling as body horror
elements creep into the narrative, involving a knife and foot, you know what
you’re going to see next but you’re never fully sure what’s going to appear.
As a slow paced at first thriller, then morphs into the spectacle by the end, there are some horror fans out there who will want the pace to quicken. Leaving too much room for situations to linger, patience is needed for a film like this which doesn’t really get moving until nearly an hour in, which is quite a bit to ask when it’s a 90-minute film. The build-up to the climax of the film can be forgiven for being exposition but when this doesn’t really matter, its shame the story does lose momentum.
A welcome addition to a genre just beginning to make
traction, ‘The Beach House’ could definitely be the low-key companion to ‘Color
Out of Space’, especially with the somewhat Lovecraft-esque setting and bizarre
nature of the whole film. They’ll be more stories like this to tell, let’s just
hope the elements that make up this genre don’t go stale.
The Beach House is now available on Shudder.