Charnel House, The (2016)
Starring Callum Blue, Nadine Velazquez, Makenzie Ross
Directed by Craig Moss
Originality appears to be a fleeting thought when it comes to horror films in this day and age, and The Charnel House is a spot-on representation of just that. Uninspired, too muddled to progress with fluidity, and a conclusion that best resembles a heavily-taxed paycheck – all adding up to a film that was a memory before it even got going – sad days, these are.
1983 Was the year, and the locale was the Fairmont Meat Company – Thomas Schect, a local serial killer decides to pitch himself out of a clock tower window, thinking he’s got his young son clutched in his arms – seems to be that in a frenzy brought on by the police closing in, his son’s soul was cast aside from his body, and he somehow managed to survive the “accident.”
Flash-forward some years later, and the beautification project is now underway for the old building – a recharged revitalization for a place that brought on so many horrific memories, now turned into something of a superstructure dominated by voice-activation technology. Millionaire extraordinaire Alex Reaves (Blue) is the face responsible for this undertaking and will become the one to face it head on when things go awry. Turns out that Thomas’ “deceased” son is caught up in the building’s internal works, and has a hold on Alex’s young daughter – add in a man (Erik LaRay Harvey), who is searching for his father who may have been murdered by Thomas way back in the day, and we’ve got the makings for something interesting…or, I could be sorely mistaken.
Turns out that I wasn’t mistaken, rather the fact that this film moves along at a snail’s pace, with seemingly no real scares to be found at any turn was its damning factor. Too many “what-ifs” and a lack of real plot direction acted as a lead tether here, eventually sinking the film within the first 45 minutes of run-time. When a film such as this fails on the creep factor, you normally can look at the surroundings to gather a measure of saving grace; yet, even this building, with its wave-of-the-future technology, fails to hold an inch of interest (never seen voice-activation quite this boring). Callum Blue does deliver an interesting performance, but the remainder of the cast seemed extremely wooden and uninterested in the lines they were provided, therefore making it tough to believe the emotions were authentic.
Overall, this House is one dwelling that should have remained closed until a more suitable foundation could have been constructed – my advice is to take a large pass on this one.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
