HOUSE HUNTING (2013)

Studio:       Phase 4 Films
Director:    Eric Hurt
Writer:       Eric Hurt
Producer:  Erica Arvold, Pat Cassidy
Stars:     Marc Singer, Hayley DuMond, Paul McGill, Victoria Vance, Rebekah Kennedy, Janey Gioiosa, Art LaFleur

Review Score:

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Summary:

Two families attend an open house at a secluded home only to discover that their secrets mysteriously prevent anyone from setting foot off the property. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

A beaten girl named Hanna runs through the woods. Charlie Hays plans to house hunt with his second wife Susan and his daughter Emmy. Emmy has had trouble accepting Susan as her stepmother since Charlie’s first wife died. Charlie wants to look at a secluded 70-acre property that he recently foreclosed on.

Don Thomson is house hunting with his wife Leslie and his son Jason. Leslie is still mourning the death of their daughter Lizzy. Jason is on crutches since breaking his leg in a car accident. A strange man, known only as “The Realtor,” appears from nowhere with his dog and tells Don about a secluded 70-acre property that he should look at.

While stopped for lunch, Emmy sees The Realtor sitting at a nearby table and watches his face change to a frightening white shape. Susan and Charlie dismiss her vision. Emmy notes the man again when she sees his face on the realtor signs in front of the property they are looking at.

The Hays and Thomsons both arrive at the property, but realize no one is home. Charlie drives back to the street to get the phone number off the realtor sign. While driving back to the house, Hanna jumps in front of his car and he swerves into a tree. They discover that Hanna is missing her tongue. The Hays take Hanna to the Thomsons vehicle and everyone leaves together to get the girl medical help. After driving up and down the road 23 times for several hours, they realize that they are strangely unable to leave the property. The seven of them take shelter in the house. Don has a small gun for protection. The group discovers seven cans of stew in the pantry. After eating, they all go to sleep.

In the morning, Hanna is missing. Don sees The Realtor in the yard, but he disappears when the men go outside to confront him. Jason finds Hanna and attacks her because he believes she is the one tormenting them. Jason shows Charlie that fresh shaving cream is in the bathroom and seven new cans of stew are in the pantry. Charlie dismisses the idea that Hanna is responsible. The group continues to realize that they cannot make it to the road without inexplicably reappearing on the property. They decide to stay at the house until someone comes for them.

One Month Later – Life at the house continues. Seven cans of stew appear each day. Leslie changes linens and cleans the house. Jason’s leg continues to heal. Susan allows Jason to spy on her in the bathroom. While gathering firewood, Jason pressures Emmy into kissing. While outside, Emmy sees a boy in the house’s window. A photograph shows that she saw The Realtor’s son. Susan discovers foreclosure papers with Charlie’s name. Leslie works on a jigsaw puzzle and has visions of her deceased daughter Lizzy. At dinner, Susan accuses Leslie of liking the situation.

The next morning, Susan awakes from a dream in which Charlie beats her to death. Hanna shows Emmy a book with a rhyme about the house. Through nods, Hanna reveals that she originally came there to look at the house. Don interprets the voice messages left by The Realtor as meaning that only one family can have the house. Jason discovers that only six cans are in the pantry and then finds that his mother hanged herself on the porch. Don blames Susan for Leslie’s death and briefly pulls his gun on Charlie. Leslie is buried outside. While shaving, Charlie has a vision of his first wife’s throat being cut with a razor blade. He tells Emmy that her mother met someone else and was planning on leaving them before she died.

Emmy has a vision of The Realtor killing his son and then shooting himself. Emmy completes the jigsaw puzzle and finds it is a picture of herself in front of the house. She has the idea to look at the house and walk backwards until she reaches the road. Jason has a vision of the car from his accident and sees the woman he ran over, although he told his parents that he hit a deer. Don meets a vision of himself in the woods. The doppelganger convinces him to be suspicious of the Hays.

Emmy comes close to the road and starts to hear voices but Jason interrupts her. Jason then tries to rape her but Hanna clubs him with a log. A branch lodges in Jason’s stomach. The group comes to Jason. Don pulls his gun on Charlie again. Susan examines Jason’s wound. Jason denies the attempted rape allegation. Back at the house, Don threatens that Susan will die if Jason dies. Don ties up everyone with rope from Leslie’s noose and uses Emmy’s plan to walk backwards towards the road. Charlie is able to free Susan while Don is gone. Jason starts choking from a vision of the woman he killed as Don returns to the house. Jason admits that he killed the woman in his hit-and-run accident. Don starts to believe that Jason tried to rape Emmy, too. Don frees Charlie and indicates he knows how to leave, but Susan kills him with an axe.

Cans no longer appear in the pantry. Charlie finds a family portrait and realizes that the woman Jason killed was the wife of The Realtor. Charlie attempts to walk backwards towards the road. While he is gone, Susan tells Emmy that her mother killed herself after learning that Charlie was having an affair with Susan. Susan and Emmy fight each other before Emmy pulls the gun that Charlie left her. At the same time, Jason is killed by a vision of the woman he killed. Outside, Charlie confronts a vision of himself. His doppelganger tells him that Charlie cannot leave until he deals with the issue of Susan revealing the truth to Emmy about his first wife’s death.

Charlie returns to the house and fights with Susan. When Susan picks up her coat, cans of stew are uncovered. Susan claims she did not take them. After another argument, Charlie beats Susan to death with a can. Charlie tells Emmy that they can leave if Hanna is eliminated. Emmy realizes that Charlie actually killed her mother and made it look like an accident/suicide. She and Hanna run to the woods. Charlie catches them and kills Hanna with the hand axe. Emmy shoots her father. She subsequently makes it to the road and is rescued, but the people in the car drive back to the house for help. While the new group chases a vision, Emma finds puzzle pieces in her pocket. The little boy suddenly appears in the car and says, “she’s back daddy.” The Realtor then cuts out Emmy’s tongue.

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Review:

An open house becomes a waking nightmare for two families and a mute girl when they find themselves unable to leave a mysterious secluded property.  These seven people eventually discover that they are inexplicably intertwined by personal secrets that tether them to the house as well as to each other.

The base idea is not unique.  Strangers or familiars find themselves in another plane of existence, prevented from escaping until they confront the untold truths and personal demons that falsify their relationships and bind them to one another.  But the people trapped in “House Hunting” are real.  Without spoiling other films that use a similar premise by naming names, no one turns out to be a ghost or a manifestation from a fractured psyche.  It is the gradual revelation of what ties their common bonds and how the connection can be broken that makes “House Hunting” an engaging thriller.

On paper, characterizations teeter dangerously close to the pit of overbaked stereotypes, but they are pulled from the brink with fleshed out performances from faces familiar and unfamiliar.  Art LaFleur is a chain-smoking man’s man with a predilection for overbearing behavior.  Yet LaFleur has an amiable undertone that injects a surprising amount of likability into an otherwise predictable personality.  Ditto for Marc Singer as a devoted father moving on after his first wife’s death.  As their respective wives, one sheepish and one more confident, Victoria Vance and Hayley DuMond have expressive ranges that deliver a fair amount of subtext to their characters.  These stylings mesh well in an ensemble where the audience is meant to keep guessing at true motives and intentions.

The script, however, has moments of forehead slapping incredulity by introducing inconsistent traits, making characters sometimes crafty and then painfully dense.  First is the matter of the group’s peculiar predicament of being unable to leave the premises.  When it becomes clear that the road that should lead to the street just keeps bringing them back to the house, they continue to try it anyway.  For several hours.  23 times.  One might think they would accept the unexplainable circumstance after experiencing the loop just a handful of times.  Maybe even a dozen tries.  Or 22.  But 23 times?

Alternatively, once they do accept the situation for what it is, they really, really accept it.  The plot is sped up with the aid of a “One Month Later” graphic, and everyone is remarkably well adjusted considering the ongoing circumstances.  Seven cans of stew mysteriously appear in the pantry each day.  The seven “prisoners” are shown changing bed linens, shaving, washing clothes in the sink, and piecing together a jigsaw puzzle.  Everything except exploring new ways to escape.

There are also threads that are either fumbled red herring attempts, or subplots without a resolution.  One of the mothers has continued visions of embracing her long deceased daughter.  Only one other character witnesses the bizarre behavior, but nothing comes from that unique insight.  There is also a strange scene where the stepmother sees the other family’s teenage son spying on her while undressing.  She purposefully gives him a smile and willfully drops her bra.  For what reason, this is never explained.

The two families find new clues on a regular enough basis and it is not clear if they are just now getting around to exploring that particular closet after a month of captivity.  One could imagine explanations on behalf of the film.  Like the cans of stew, perhaps the house is only making these things appear now and they have not been there for several weeks.  However, it is preferable if the movie answered these questions itself, rather than give inquisitive minds more reasons to collapse under the weight of disbelief.

And that is the greatest drawback of “House Hunting.”  Some of the stretches to accept the circumstances and the behavior are big asks of the audience.  Those who like to stick their fingers in plot holes and pull things apart may only find entertainment by doing the same thing here.  Yet first time feature director Eric Hurt was either blessed with an able cast or he has the ability to paint over his film’s negatives with the outweighing positives.  (Probably a bit of both.)  There are leaks in the dam, but solid acting and an interesting premise carry the suspense through to the end.  And although the foundation may be familiar, where the story goes is not quite as predictable.

Review Score:  70

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