With all those recent images we’ve seen on TV of people flocking to the beaches of Bournemouth and Brighton in the UK, you would think people are relieved to be out of lock-down and heading to places like that, but for a troubled young couple in a brand-new independent horror film, the beach seems to have to completely opposite effect.
In THE BEACH HOUSE, college sweethearts Emily (Liana Liberato) and Randall (Noah Le Gros) have decided to take solace in their relationship and the seemingly serene coastal setting where Randall’s father has a house. It seems like a good deal, until they discover they have two house-guests who are friends of Randall’s father, Mitch and Jane Turner (Jake Weber and Maryann Nagel), who were unaware of the other couples’ arrival, but decide to accommodate the pair.
Emily is planning to study astro-biology, whilst Randall is more or less done with college, something Emily didn’t take too kindly too when he took off and merely left her with some dispiriting e-mails, but love needs another chance and so they reunite for some seriously hard and honest disclosures, heightened when Randall brings along some seriously strong chocolate with a little touch of spiked you-know-what in the mix.
The sweet-tooth of the quartet happens, but there is far more than a come-down from the drug inherent where they are situated – and something considerably more mystical – and deadly….
THE BEACH HOUSE is a very atmospheric affair, compensating for a slow build of suspense as it finally reaches its’ true intent in the second half of the film, which reminds one of John Carpenter’s THE FOG and IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS visually.
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It certainly isn’t the right mix for lock-down entertainment if you are looking for more escapist thrills and entertainment, bu there is something still admirable in what writer/director Jeffrey A. Brown is going for albeit with a little uneven tone.
At the film’s outset, there is a sense that the film is setting itself up at times for another vintage home invasion thriller à la HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK or STRAW DOGS, but settles into a tale of paranoia and uncertainty, tempered by the fact that it lacks some energy in the first half.
Still a watchable example of the horror genre.
