A House is Not a Home

Director - Christopher Ray (3-Headed Shark Attack, Reptisaurus)
Starring - Gerald Webb (Sharknado, Workaholics), Bill Cobbs (Demolition Man, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer), and Richard Grieco (A Night at the Roxbury, Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain)
Release Date - 2015
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "No one leaves this house alive"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I love a good haunted house flick.  We don't see that many anymore but I miss them.  Maybe we don't seem then that much anymore because the black and white films of yesteryear, like House on Haunted Hill, had a lot more atmosphere and amazing sets.  Sadly, most modern haunted house flicks use jump scares and cheap effects to get a rise out of the viewer.  Sometime ago I was sent the haunted house flick A House is Not a Home which features a small role from Richard Grieco and Bill Cobbs.  The artwork was very bland and unimaginative but that didn't stop me from wanting to check it out.  I want to take a moment to thank MVD for sending this one my way for Horror Society and myself to check out and review.  I appreciate it.
     The film follows a family who purchase their dream home in hopes of a fresh start.  The house was extremely cheap but the family thinks nothing of the price and move in.  Everything is fine at first but strange occurrences happen resulting in the family becoming afraid.  Things take a dark turn when the family is attacked by ghostly apparitions.  Not knowing where to turn they seen an interview with a voodoo witch doctor on television and invite him into their home to rid them of the evil.  They think they have rid themselves of the evil but the house is alive and refuses to let them go.
     I hate when I dislike a movie that was sent to me for review.  I will always be honest regardless if you agree or disagree with me.  I always feel I am being ungrateful but if I don't like something I just don't like it.  I refuse to lie to prevent from hurting someone's feeling.  A House is Not a Home just wasn't for me.  The acting in this one is great.  This is one of the better acted horror flicks I had been lucky enough to review this year.  The cast had amazing chemistry and worked so well with each other.  It will be some time before I see another film that has a cast like this one.  The story for this one had so much promise but was unable to reach the full potential.  It started out in a rather cliched manner following a family getting the perfect house at discount prices only to discover it had a dark past and a deadly presence inside.  It is here that it falls below mediocrity when it is unable to properly deliver an effective ghost story.  The story feels very rushed and key points left out during filming.  Finally, the film starts out rather gruesome but turns into a bad CGI flick that rivals the films you would find on the Sy-Fy channel.  The practical effects we get are solid but the visual effects are laughable.  Overall, A House is Not a Home just wasn't for me.  I love cheap movies but this one just didn't have heart.  Skip it.