The House of Usher (2006)

Director: Hayley Cloake

Writers: Collin Chang (writer); Edgar Allan Poe (short story)

Release Date: 2007 (USA)

Genre: Thriller

Plot: Three years after her lover, Rick Usher, and her best friend, Maddy Usher, had suddenly disappeared from her life without explanation, Jill Masters receives a phone call with news of Maddy’s death. Her last wish was for Jill to attend her funeral. Conflicted, Jill returns to the house of Usher, a remote New England enclave. Her love affair with Rick is rekindled as she learns he suffers from the same malady that robbed his twin sister, Maddy, of her sharp mind before taking her life. His affliction is manifested in a rare nerve condition, which renders him hyper-sensitive. Under the watchful eye of the caretaker, Nurse Thatcher, Jill appears to be haunted by the ghost of Maddy, and the secret of the house of Usher is exposed. (Taken from IMDB.com)

Cast: Austin Nikols, Izabella Miko, Beth Grant, Danielle McCarthy

MPAA: Rated R for some sexuality and violence

First of all… The genre is totally misleading. And So is the cover. I first saw this movie in a crate with a bunch of movies and my first impression was, this looks scary.  I didn’t know first off that it was based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Fall of The House of Usher, and I know I should have done my research before acquiring this movie for free. But I chose to see it, without the prior knowledge that would have saved me from a boring 1 and a half hours.

One, the plot… is far from the short story. Sure, there are some similarities… The Usher siblings has a strange unknown sickness and the sister “dies”. And the names stays the same. OK! But that was about it. It didn’t have anything else from the story… which I found dumb and ridiculous.

Two, the acting… need I say more? It was so forced and disastrous. I’ve seen worse, don’t get me wrong, but, can I at least get something better than that mess? The emotions was everywhere and what the fuzz was with her delayed reactions?!

Three… the overall writing of the screenplay for this movie was very lacking. It left you empty at the end. What just happened? Why did they do this? Are they serious? Did she really do what I think she did? I don’t understand!!! Collin Chang, who I have never heard of before, left lots of gaps for us viewers to scratch our heads at and just get overly frustrated trying to make sense of the impossible.

Overall… the movie was not as good as what I believed it was going to be. It was not scary. It was not terrifying. It was not even entertaining in the least. The idea was good, and the movie would have been better if it was written better and successfully directed. Better acting would only improve it. It was a soft twist, by that I mean, you don’t really think of what’s going to happen until 1/4 of the movie is already seen.

Which is bad thing……

D-

A good idea isn’t enough to recommend the movie, just to tell others what it’s about and the interesting points I found intriguing. I was completely disappointed and I apologize to my friend for letting her see such a waste.  Though we had fun making ridiculous guesses.

MYV382

~ by myv382 on May 20, 2008.