House of Good and Evil (2013)

(In French, On Cable TV, April 2022) From the get-go, House of Good and Evil has a cheap-and-fast feeling that doesn’t bode well: As an urban couple moves to the countryside to save their marriage after a miscarriage and some domestic violence, the film’s accidental cinematography and harsh images don’t set an auspicious tone. Neither do the various dumb character decisions that only make sense in contrived horror movies. (So, there’s a mysterious locked door – yeah, the realtor will be back at the end of the week with the key. No worries.)  Then the horror ramps up, as there’s no electricity and no phone (probably no water either) and the house has a separate apartment with apparently no one answering the door to their new landlords – why would anyone but the protagonists of a horror film want to live there? Here’s a hint: don’t get too attached to the characters or to the concept of an objective reality, because the film eventually gets to a point of trickery mocking much of the middle act. It doesn’t add much. In fact, thanks to Blu de Golyer’s script, the film ends with an impression of pointlessness – having explained how much of the story was in the protagonist’s head, the revelation doesn’t really add anything to the result. It just makes it feel even cheaper and dumber than it already felt. I’m always a sucker for a good haunted-house story, but the operative word here is “sucker” – sometimes you get a good movie, and sometimes you get suckered into disappointment. In that scheme, clearly, House of Good and Evil is not a good movie.