“Evil has an address…” Synopsis: After a young woman is kidnapped, her captors soon come to realize that in fact they may be the ones in danger and this young woman has a dark secret inside her.

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Calamity Brains:

It took me a good 45 minutes into House on Willow Street to figure out why it wasn’t scaring me. It’s true that the plot is fairly silly, but so are most movies in this particular subgenre. The makeup and effects were great, the cinematography and music were good, the acting was decent enough to not be a distraction. But something was still off, and even with some fairly creepy jump scares, the movie wasn’t doing it for me.

Where House on Willow Street suffers is in lack of tension. Though all the basic elements are there – scary setting, unsettling things happening, some music – they aren’t put together quite right. A good horror flick should have its audience on the edge of their chairs until a jump scare or release; a great horror flick shouldn’t let them go for the entire movie. Not only did I never feel much concern for the characters (like Don’t Breathe, this movie is from the bad guys’ POV), but I also never felt my pulse race during a stressful scene.

As a result, I had the odd, from-the-outside-looking-in feeling of watching creepy figments in excellently-done makeup and being somewhat bored. I regret that; I can’t help feeling like with another director I would have actually found the demon’s manifestations frightening. However, YMMV – if you scare more easily or find that effects are usually enough to get you going, House on Willow Street may work for you.

Calamity Brains’ Rating: C+
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