The House of Him (2014)

The House of Him is a well thought out, claustrophobic, suspenseful & at times downright creepy piece of filmmaking. The 2 leads provide excellent foils for each other, with the supporting cast adding to the confusion and creepiness of the situation. The bold, tea-drinking villain, essentially holding the fantastic female lead captive by his very presence in the room, lends real weight to the plight of women trapped in abusive relationships. Seeing a way out, but too afraid to move/leave, in case they get caught in the act... I'd highly recommend going to Vimeo and renting, or buying this film, if you're a fan of suspenseful thrillers. You can thank me later.

... rather than relying on overly-graphic visuals.This horror mystery opens up with a killing ... and ends with the audience being allowed to look into the mind of a misogynistic killer as an intended victim (and past victims) play with that mind. How refreshing to actually draw the audience in to help bring about fair-play and consequences for the actions of a killer. In today's society, that has grown so dependent on "instant gratification" and not used to "exercising" one's own mind in solving a mystery, I can see where most viewers would think this film was "cheap" and without any virtuous qualities. More is the pity, as this film is definitely worth viewing numerous times to pick up any and all nuances and teasing clues.

I have watched House Of Him several times. It IS deeply thought provoking. If you expect to watch a slasher film or something of the sort, this is not it. The protagonist is Him, a man who has murdered in the past and plans to continue his sadistic M.O. on Anna, his victim. The tension is palpable throughout the film while watching Anna struggle with the reality of what she is being subjected to and watching Him race steadily down the incline into madness. The film is centered around the stigma of battered women. While it is not a blatant and in your face matter, the feeling is there throughout. While this was a low-budget film, the acting is exceptional. Rankin and Stewart are believable as the main characters; Rankin will break your heart as the tortured soul who ends up in the bowels of insanity while he seems baffled by the turn of events. I enjoyed it immensely, yet if you don't want to *think* during your entertainment, skip it. It is disturbing, intense and so valid for the world we live in; But so worth the time to watch.

Masked killer traps a victim in his home and plays with her. Suddenly ... a knock at the door.This is real low budget, and I did struggle with it up to the half hour stage. Once they took tea, the story settled into a rhythm and the early head-scratchiness of the set-up went away.Acting was good, but I thought the lead actress was given a few unnecessary reaction lines and overall her predicament was so mysterious it must have been hard to play.Music very good, and some creepy disembodied voices. Photography and editing mixed, although it was impressive toward the end, with some nice weird-out scenes. The scene with the biochem suit reminded me of Under the Skin - dunnoes why I felt that, maybe the overall feel from the music.In the end just too conservative for me - I prefer to remain unsettled by a horror, and messages and metaphors feel false. And once again a British horror that's coy about sex, and light on the justifiable gore.But this one did use the supernatural element just right - unlike, say, The Babadook - so it's well worth watching.