House Swap (2010)

I was searching for a horror flick in the mood of "Soulmate", "The Last House on Cemetery Lane" and "White Settlers" and came across this little gem of a found-footage film.Well aware that there's always a good chance of being let down when trying to find a decent horror movie, and a little discouraged with a couple of the reviews, me and my boyfriend decided to go ahead and watch it anyway. The good reviews were uplifting.Movie starts with one of my favorite horror movie scenarios - couple moves to old house far from people. This time as a house swap where the main couple come from LA, USA to the countryside of Glastonbury, England to work. It is filmed as the video diary of a screenwriter and his musician girlfriend, and it's actually pretty convincing as such. Their work getaway starts off idyllic, but soon they realize everything isn't as it should as strange things start to happen in the night.The movie manages to keep the tension throughout the story, and there were several occasions where I wanted to hold my hands up ready to cover my eyes. So if you like atmospheric indie horror films and the found-footage genre (this is one of the better in the genre, IMO), you should definitely check this out. You might be surprised!

If you are looking for a slasher, this isn't for you. But if you enjoy a taught, psychological approach to horror, this should be right up your street. OK, the 'found footage' format is a bit tired these days, but judging by the date this movie was completed, it seems to have been conceived around the time of Paranormal Activity's success, and should have been released before the slew of crappy 'found footage' movies I've had to watch since then. The male lead is a cocky type, shooting his own home movie of his experiences, and the female is a doll fast losing patience with him. In these terms the performances of both the leads are convincing. There are enough scares along the way to have the girls in our home squealing with fear, and there are a couple of pay-offs in the end that had me jumping, and I'm the kind of person who usually laughs off supposedly scary horror movies. Definitely worth watching, but it shouldn't have been released with an 18 cert, as it is no gore-fest.

The guy above who gave this movie the highest regard is obviously just jerking your chain. This movie really is terrible. It is so bad that I am making my first IMDb review post just to ensure you know it. From the absolutely unoriginal plot to the absolutely irrational choices the characters make it is poorly planned. And not just irrational in the excusable sense-- like "they are scared so they might do something stupid like that", but irrational in the sense any person with half a brain or better would come up with a better idea than the leads do. The acting is not the worst I have seen... it is mediocre, but not terrible, and that is probably the only thing that keeps me from calling it one of the worst movies ever, but the scriptwriter and director must be absolute morons to not see the holes they have created. I will admit that, to me, found footage is a cheap gimmick used in the vast majority of cases to get away with making garbage, and it has got to the point now where it is mostly just really dragging the horror genre down, but this, even among found footage films, is one of the poor examples of the bunch.

This is a great film !! best horror film in ages. The house is amazing- a creepy old place in Glastonbury that makes a perfect location for this house swap. I really like the way the storey is told through the eyes of the police putting the CCTV footage together.-clever. The acting is superb and the storey moves at a great pace with the tension building and building all the time. The music and sound effects also add to the feeling that this house is not a good place be! Some of the effects are brilliant and some scenes will have you jumping out of your seat. It really is a classic film with a great original plot that has been sewn together masterfully. I highly recommend that you check it out.