Review by David Paul Hellings
@HellingsOnFilm
Synopsis:
“Aaron and Austin Keeling’s tauntingly sinister new feature The House On Pine Street wreaks havoc on an expectant young couple as they move into an eerily ominous house. This highly acclaimed psychological thriller comes to DVD and digital thanks to Second Sight.
After an unexpected mental breakdown, seven month pregnant Jennifer Branagan (Emily Goss “An Emotional Affair”) reluctantly returns to her hometown in Kansas with her husband Luke for the arrival of their baby. Struggling to cope with fears of motherhood, a strained relationship with her husband and the presence of an overbearing mother, Meredith, Jennifer is losing control of her life.
But what begins with objects moving behind her back and unexplained knocking sounds, soon escalates into something far more sinister and threatening. Jennifer fears the house is haunted yet alone in her convictions, she is forced to question her own sanity. Is she losing her mind, or is there a dark entity within the house that is all too real?”
-via Second Sight
Review:
How many haunted houses are there in the world? As many as you like if the price is right and there’s an audience. From “The Haunting” to “The Amityville Horror”, “The Innocents” to “Sinister”, and the sadly never ending “Paranormal Activity” franchise, plus the plentiful amount of possession films out there, you literally can throw a brick out of the window and hit a haunted house. The original “Poltergeist” got it right by noting that it’s not smart to build a house on an ancient burial ground. But, there’s only so many haunted house stories you can take. Only so many: “what happened to the previous owners?” before the tropes wear thin, and that’s where we’re at in the haunted house market right now. Eddie Murphy’s famed haunted house stand-up routine seems more fitting than ever with its “Too bad we can’t stay” punchline from the potential new buyers when they hear the spooky voice telling them to “Get out of the house!”
Aaron and Austin Keeling have very wisely chosen to try and avoid the usual suspects A-Z of haunted house filmmaking in their “The House On Pine Street”. Adopting a more “Rosemary’s Baby” approach by focusing on the mental state of the pregnant Jennifer (a strong performance from Emily Goss) in a fish-out-of-water return to Kansas, the directors present a compelling scenario in which we’re uncertain as to whether there is a supernatural problem with the house, or if it’s all in the mind of a young woman terrified by the prospect of impending motherhood and is simply losing her capability to view the world rationally.
“The House On Pine Street” is not particularly a scare fest, instead focusing on a slow burn psychological approach to steer us towards a rewarding conclusion. Production values belie its low budget and the cast are uniformly good. It’s a well constructed and produced film that thankfully presents more than is currently turning up most of the time within this particular horror sub genre.
A refreshing take on haunted houses boosted by a strong central performance in an engaging psychological thriller.
Sales info:
Winner of Best Feature Film at Kansas International Film Festival and New Orleans Horror Film Festival and starring Emily Goss, winner of Best Actress at Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival and Fargo Film Festival, this chilling tale of a disturbed dwelling with a ghostly lore makes its debut as download to own from 25 January 2016 and DVD and VOD February 1st 2016.
‘Fear what you cannot see in The House On Pine Street’.
