House of Bad Movie Review

Written by Kelly Michael Stewart

DVD released by Osiris Entertainment

Directed by Jim Towns
Written by Jim Towns and Scott Frazelle
2013, 96 minutes, Not Rated
DVD released on December 3rd, 2013

Starring:
Heather L. Tyler as Teig
Sadie Katz as Sirah
Cheryl Sands as Lily
Lisamarie Costabile as Danielle
Clint Jung as Tommy
Julia Putnam as Young Teig
Jim Falkenstein as Greif

Review:

House of Bad is one of those films that can't decide what it wants to be. It feels like it should be out in the open, but it mainly takes place in one house over a 10-day period. The story of House of Bad is simple enough; three sisters decide to hole up in their parents abandoned house after they rip off a suitcase full of heroin from the lover of one of the sisters. All three siblings have different demons; oldest sister Teig (Heather L. Tyler) is the leader who has served time in person, Sirah (Sadie Katz) is a former stripper with a problem with men, and youngest half sister Lily (Cheryl Sands) is a heroin addict trying to detox. Things are not what they seem in their childhood home, It's obvious things are not what they seem, though when they start to be haunted one by one by the ghosts of their past, not just figuratively but literally.

Story wise, House of Bad suffers from basic logic problems where there is just too many plot holes. It just simply doesn't make any sense they would hole up in a house that could easily be traced back to the sisters, and since their parents are dead, it would likely be in the girls' name. I guess you could argue that it was so obvious to hide out at, it would be the last place anyone would look, but these characters don't seem that clever. Also, would you let your sister stay holed up in house full of heroin for a month if she is trying to detox from it? Don't think so.

The lead performance by Heather L. Tyler is quite strong as the bitchy oldest sister, but the performances by Katz and Sands tend to be more one-dimensional. For a character piece, there just isn't enough real tension between the characters to make it interesting. It feels more like immature squabbling sisters rather than any real dramatic conflict. The story would have benefited by bringing some outside elements to create some more tension rather than just the characters' boredom.

When you have three people locked up in a restricted location. Character development is critical. but the film has the mood and tone of straight crime thriller. The makers of this film would have been best served to bring it out of the house and make it into more of action crime thriller, which it feels like it is begging to be.

Video, Audio and Special Features:

Video, audio and special features will not be graded as this was a screener.

Grades:
Movie:

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