REVIEW: House of Darkness

I'll admit it. I love Lifetime horror movies! I really dig the network's detours into the supernatural with movies like "High School Possession," "Hunting Season," "You Belong to Me" and last night's LMN premiere "House of Darkness."

Twitter was buzzing over this movie and with good reason. It was a perfect way to wind down the weekend! What better way to kick off the work week than with fresh memories of a haunted house tale!

The movies focuses on a couple trying to salvage their relationship. Of course, this happens in almost EVERY Lifetime movie. In this one, however, Kelly (Sarah Fletcher) and Brian (Gunner Wright) move to a gorgeous plantation house away from the big city. You see, Kelly is a massage therapist and Brian can't stand the thought of her touching another man. So, she closes her business and moves to the country with him, so he can build furniture in his workshop. They bring along their daughter Sarah (Mykayla Sohn) and things are off to a rocky start.

First of all, mom and dad are in couples therapy and are encouraged to keep video journals of their feelings. That's scary enough, but Sarah starts to act really weird and starts to look sickly. She whispers something about cutting her pet birds' heads off (and it happens later) and locks her cousin in the basement. Adding to the family stress is that Kelly wants to have another baby, but hubby Brian is pretty much drunk and angry in every scene.

Things get really bad (and weird) when both Kelly and Brian start seeing figures in their house (kids in masks) and a hot couple across the street looks like it might be into the swinging scene.

As with any Lifetime movie, things take a while to build up. This movie has traces of "The Shining" and "Amityville Horror" but gets confusing toward its climax. BUT ... I was entertained if not baffled by certain elements of this movie. Admittedly, the four cocktails and a beer I enjoyed MAY have had something to do with this...but I think most audiences may agree with the curious parts of this movie. The most difficult thing to grasp is why in the heck Kelly would stick with Brian. The guy was a double douche! He seemed to think she was working for the massage joint in "The Client List!" Kudos to the leads for effectively portraying a frayed couple. And nice work by Sohn as their possibly bewitched daughter.

Director Patrick DeLuca is no stranger to ghostly material. He was an executive producer on shows like "My Haunted House" and "Paranormal State." With that in mind, he keeps things consistently creepy and opts for an ending (SEMI-SPOILER) that's straight out of an old EC horror comic.

If you like Lifetime's scarier movies, this one should be right up your alley. I liked it! Checkout the network's schedule for details on future airings.

"House of Darkness" - Directed by Patrick DeLuca: Starring Sara Fletcher as Kelly, Gunner Wright as Brian, Mykayla Sohn as Sarah, Brittany Falardeau as Jamie, Nikki Alexis Howard as Ellen