"The House Next Door" is much more than a haunted house film. It is a study in evil incarnate and the unseen forces that lurk within the darkest caverns of the human mind.
The crisply-written screenplay included snappy dialogue that built dramatic tension with each new resident occuping the house next door. First, Buddy and Pie move in, and Buddy is transformed into a monster who pushes his pregnant wife down the stairs. Then, Buck and Anita reside in the home, and, to their horror, their deceased son Toby, who perished in Iraq, returns to torment them. Finally, Norman and Susie move in with their little daughter Melinda. Norman is instantly transformed into a monster.
A dramatic question that arises has to do with the source of the evil. Is the evil in the house itself? Or, is the locus of evil in the soul of the architect named Kim? There is an interesting dimension of Irish folklore that is interlarded in the film. The neighbor Col keeps a lucky green acorn from her youth growing up in an Irish family. Will the lucky charm help to ward off the evil? Or must Col and her husband Walker take things into their own hands to defeat the forces of darkness?
There was good suspense throughout the film in large part due to the excellent cast. The line readings were superb, and the actors developed credible character transformations. The directing made effective use of close-ups. While not always flattering, the facial reactions added to the sense of urgency. In the end, the filmmakers were successful in capturing the human dimension of evil, as opposed to relying on gimmicks and the tired conventions of a haunted-house horror picture.
The crisply-written screenplay included snappy dialogue that built dramatic tension with each new resident occuping the house next door. First, Buddy and Pie move in, and Buddy is transformed into a monster who pushes his pregnant wife down the stairs. Then, Buck and Anita reside in the home, and, to their horror, their deceased son Toby, who perished in Iraq, returns to torment them. Finally, Norman and Susie move in with their little daughter Melinda. Norman is instantly transformed into a monster.
A dramatic question that arises has to do with the source of the evil. Is the evil in the house itself? Or, is the locus of evil in the soul of the architect named Kim? There is an interesting dimension of Irish folklore that is interlarded in the film. The neighbor Col keeps a lucky green acorn from her youth growing up in an Irish family. Will the lucky charm help to ward off the evil? Or must Col and her husband Walker take things into their own hands to defeat the forces of darkness?
There was good suspense throughout the film in large part due to the excellent cast. The line readings were superb, and the actors developed credible character transformations. The directing made effective use of close-ups. While not always flattering, the facial reactions added to the sense of urgency. In the end, the filmmakers were successful in capturing the human dimension of evil, as opposed to relying on gimmicks and the tired conventions of a haunted-house horror picture.