The House of Adam (2006)

I have seen The House of Adam a couple of times, and thoroughly enjoyed the film. The Star of this film, is a dead ringer for a young version of Colin Farrel, extremely sexy, and totally believable in his character. I do not understand those that would give this film a "low rating." It is known that at times, competitive Producers will use this tactic to "bang" someone else's work, and I think this is unfair, as well as unprofessional. This work should be admired for what it is, a fine film with a very "HOT!" new face in Hollywood. The world of Independent films is a tough enough road, without others trying to berate a good production. I would recommend this film to anyone, and I look forward to the release on Home Video DVD!

For a modestly budgeted film (even though it was well realized), I found the House of Adam to be very good. The sound design is good, specially in the second half of the film and during the jolt moments. However,you will really enjoy the second half of the film for I feel like the first half is where the story is just getting started. Unlike most horror films and thrillers where folks just get slashed and you have nothing invested in them, this one crawls under your skin to get you emotionally involved with the characters (Adam)...then the brutal killing happens. I've never seen a film where the protagonist gets killed with a bible. This is a first. The filmmaker here takes you in one direction then cleverly winds you up another road. At the half of the film, you just don't know what's going to happen. I liked that. I hope this film does well with audiences when it comes out. However because of the religious overtones, I see how some may get offended.

This is the kind of movie that you will be thinking of days after you have seen it. When I first saw it, I was in awe by the beautiful scenery/cinematography and very moved by the story. However I did not quite see it for much of a thriller. To me, it was more of a love story. It almost reminds me of "Brokeback Mountain" with the difference that there is no names in this film but the message is the same. It's about love taken for granted. However, this story is told with a twist. Here there are supernatural overtones to the story and it gets scary towards the end for the newlywed couple. The story pretty much follows Anthony as he tries to deal with his demons as he must confront his father about money he's been stealing to attend detective school. Upon his father's request for a visit, he meets Adam, a young poor small town kid working for his father at a diner. Both strike up a friendship for different reasons. We quickly feel the chemistry between both characters upon them meeting each other. This is the kind of small town that we would find in middle America, somewhere like Kentucky where there are religious fascist trying to force their religious beliefs on everyone. Unfortunately,this is what will ultimately end up killing Adam. For the newlywed couple who has the unfortunate luck to move into this haunted house, they begin to experience signs from beyond the grave. I found this film to be inventive and original. It's a very suspenseful love story. It's got a good cross over potential. The gay love story is prominent throughout the film, but the film does have a message everyone can relate to. This is a movie that would make a great conversation over coffee after seeing it. I highly recommend it. Apparently the story is based on a true story. I am very curious to know what actually happened and where.

I saw this movie at a special screening in Panama. This movie is excellent because even though it is something that the Latin American public is not used to seeing it was very well received thanks to the theme of the film that everyone can relate to, the universal theme of love taken for granted. The way it was made was tasteful and non-pornographic, but it was very artistic and it showed situations that could very well happen daily. The beginning how they place the viewer from a far, and then in the climax is when the film starts to interact with the viewer is what fascinated me. After watching the movie twice, what I really loved was when in a very frightening moment, Adam scares the newlywed husband, Mark while he was sleeping making him think that his wife was being intimate with him but it was actually a ghostly encounter. It made for a very creative moment. The sound effects flawlessly followed the scary moments which were very much enhanced and riveting. The movie is made by a Panamanian director who grew up here and this is not the kind of movie we are used to watching but I applaud him for the high production values. You can see it was very well thought out and it was not just made to appease the financiers. I highly recommend this movie to all the Latin American public when it opens in theatres here in Panama and in central America for which, based on the enormous amount of press it got here it should be opening soon. I have never seen any one film get the amount of press this movie got here in Panama. The film is currently being promoted at the best cinema here in this country and I cant wait for it to open here to see the audience reaction. Another great point to this movie is that is has an awesome story. It is very original and very atypical from what you would usually see in other films.