mishaarvind
A brilliant independent offering, which is refreshingly refined in its storytelling and tone. Filmed in the West Midlands, the film pays homage old school British Gothic Horror flicks, such as the Hammer films, namely though its rustic and errie tone. The House of Screaming Death is an anthology movie, which opens with the host - The Architect - who roams the halls of Bray Manor, which is nicknamed the House of Screaming Death due to its creepy history. Built in the 1200s, the house has seen many occupants either lose their minds or die gruesome deaths. The Architect shares four stories involving past occupants of the house, each a disturbing tale that delves into the dark and supernatural.The first story - The Lady in Grey - follows a former war veteran forced to take a job as a caretaker at the Bray Manor, as his age and injuries render him unsuitable for service during the Second World War. Haunted by ghosts from his past, the caretaker spirals into grief as the energies in the house begin to take its toll. The Witch in the Mirror, the film's second story - is less subdued. It opens with a woman performing a black magic ritual, which leads to her seeming death. Years later, when her grieving husband passes away, the house is passed onto their niece Lily, who moves into the abode with her boyfriend. However, they are warned not to get caught between two mirrors, and soon - spurred on by the dark energies in the house - Lily's dark secrets are revealed with some unsettling consequences.The suspense is amped up in the film's third story. Set in the 18th century, The Vampyre tells the tale of Thomas, a dapper traveller who arrives in a sleepy village that is gripped by the disappearances and mysterious murders of many of its residences. With angry villagers blaming the incidents on a clawed creature, Thomas dismisses the talk as superstition and leaves to spend his first night at the Bray Manor, where he is temporarily staying. However, he soon notices a strange man lingering near the house. Believing him to be in need, Thomas follows him to a mysterious dwelling and learns that his new acquaintance is social pariah rejected by the other villagers for his near deformed appearance. But the story takes a dark turn when Thomas discovers this man's link to the clawed creature. The movie then ventures onto it's last story, The Diabolique, which takes the film to more disturbing heights. The segment starts in the halls of the Bray Manor, where a young woman wakes up in the middle of the night and discovers that her brother has been brutally killed in a sinister occult ritual. Two years later - in the year 2015 - the Bray Manor is being renovated into a restaurant, which is headed up by a snobbish business woman and her down-to-earth nephew. However, dark forces are wide awake in the house, and the young woman returns to stop whatever it is from taking more lives.
Once the final story reaches its disturbing conclusion, The House of Screaming Death then moves back to the Architect, who turns out to be more than just a storyteller in a gripping finale you never see coming. In spite of it's small budget, The House of Screaming Death is an impressive feat. The rusty feel of the Manor contributes to the film's eerie tone, which is reminiscent to the 1970s classic The Wicker Man. There are some great performances in the film, namely from Matthew Kinson, who plays the creature in The Vampyre. His hunched posture, and gravelly voice builds an atmosphere of foreboding when we are first introduced to him, the latter - coupled with the wide-eyed menace in his eye - becoming more terrifying as he goes on the kill.Although the first story didn't feel like a horror film, the quality of the stories improve one by one. The second story introduces some concepts that set the tone for the following stories, and has some memorable scenes, particularly those involving the necromancers - hooded bird creatures that wouldn't look out of place in a demented version of The Mighty Boosh.But the film only really improves in its delivery when the third story begins. The pacing, suspense and storytelling is immaculate, with some brilliant scenes that - to use a clique - will have you on the edge of your seat. The final story is where the tone of the film delves into something quite menacing, which is what a good Horror flick should do. Again, with some great storytelling and a pace that moves the story along, The Diabolique mixes gore and fantasy with a plot twist that leads to an unsettling cliff-hanger. But just when it feels like the film has finished with its twists and turns, it pulls out another that makes The House of Screaming Death one of the most satisfying indie Horror films to grace the screen.
