“Lovecraftian” and “cosmic” are just a couple of the adjectives I’ve seen used to describe the type of horror film that is The Beach House. How would I describe it? Weird, but watchable.
Hear me out:
Emily and Randall are a young couple (who, in my opinion, have grown apart but are forcing the relationship) and they decide that a retreat to Randall’s dad’s beach house will be just what their relationship needs. Once there, they meet an older couple, Mitch and Jane Turner, who are also using the beach house since they are friends with Randall’s dad. So what do you do in this situation? It wouldn’t be much of a movie if one couple opted to leave so they decide to go through a bunch of wine and when that runs out, they all partake in some edibles…and no, these aren’t just tasty treats. Here’s where things get weird and Emily begins to notice a mysterious infection that is not only affecting the people, but also the environment.
Maybe the trailer can help me explain:
Trippy, right? I must say that Jeffrey A. Brown could not have a better directorial debut to give us a taste of what he can do. The cast isn’t bad, either. You may recognize them from other films: Liana Liberato (Banana Split, Light as a Feather), Noah Le Gros (A Score to Settle), Jake Weber (Dawn of the Dead [2004]) and Maryann Nagel do a great job going from an awkward group forced to be together to people being, well, infected.
I don’t want to go into too many details so as not to spoil the film for you, but I must caution you that this is a slow moving film. You may be tempted to have the TV on in the background and play on your phone while watching. Don’t do that. You need to listen to conversations to understand all that eventually happens in the movie.
Although slow, I liked most everything about the film: the dialogue that isn’t just a throwaway conversation between strangers, the contrast of the young and older couple, the visual imagery and colors when shit starts to get real, even the trippy ending.
The Beach House is now available on AMC’s Shudder. I myself think it’s time to finally get a subscription to this streaming service.