Death House

Director - B. Harrison Smith (Camp Dread, Garlic and Gunpowder)
Starring - Cody Longo (Piranha 3D, Nashville), Cortney Palm (Zombeavers, American Satan), and Kane Hodder (The Devil's Rejects, Jason Goes to Hell)
Release Date - 2017
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Hell isn't a word...it's a sentence"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Sometime ago I received a press release for a film that was being billed as the horror movie equivalent of The Expendables.  This was not the first film to make that claim but it was the first film to actually make true on it.  Sure, a few before it had three or four horror legends in one film but this film, which would later be released as Death House, would throw every genre legend it could at the viewer.  I was excited for the release but after it hit VOD and DVD I found several of you in the horror community bashing the film.  After so many negative comments about the film was posted through social media I received the film in for review.  I put it at the bottom of my stack but recently decided to go ahead and get it over with.  Pull the band aid off quickly so to speak.  

     The film follows two "guards" who is getting a walk through a super secret prison, Death House, which is home to the world's most vicious killer and maniacs.  Their visit coincides with an unexpected power failure which releases all the inmates with anarchy ensuring.  The two new guards, along with scientists and other employees, must fight through each level of this man-made hell in order to survive.

   

     Death House has a lot going for it but at the end of the day the movie is a chaotic mess that leaves very little entertainment for the viewer.    The film is mostly a race to see how many characters can fit on screen before the time runs out.  The acting in this one is rough.  We have so many screen legends appear in this one but they have such a limited amount of screen time that they can't give the fans what they really wanted.  With that being said, the film's leads are fairly weak.  Cody Longo and Cortney Palm are given some of the most generic dialogue ever written and expect to give viewer's an amazing performances.  The horrible dialogue and their lack of commitment results in bland performances from both.  The story for this one feels like a side mission on cheap game for PSOne and the cameos are just tossed together in a way that it makes them feel cheap.  This is the same issue I had with Avengers: Infinity War.  We get all these cameos tossed at us, in some instances just for a few seconds, but they don't fit in the film.  We get a half ass story that feels like it was written around each cameo appearance.  It was nice to see some of the legends that have passed in recent years but aside from that the film was rough to sit through.  Finally, the film does have some pretty impressive practical and make up effects but they are waisted in the scene that no one is following.  Most of the people that had seen this one before me said they turned it off about 20 minutes in.  I get that.  I wanted to but I stuck with it and I was impressed by the effects but let down by how they had little to no impact on the scene.  Overall, Death House is a gimmick that lacks story or substance.  It's a bold idea but at the end of the day it's just a movie that crams cameo after cameo with complete disregard.  I highly suggest skipping this one.