Clevercell Very disappointing...

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

pamelaannmeier I am so sad, that I could have been doing something else. Run, don't walk, away from this horrible horror film.

jaa-30884 Like many other reviewers, I saw the high early rating (7.9) and dove right in. I quickly regretted it. The premise was okay. To its credit, I thought there was some depth to the subtext. The director plays a lot with the "Primacy Effect" of our first meeting with the characters. The viewer is definitely expected to evolve their perception of who is good and who is evil. Had they dwelt more on the psychological tension and made the kidnappers sit face to face with their victim, the movie may have made more of an impact. As it is, the role reversal created more plot holes than tension. There are decent moments of body horror in the second half of the film, but I was too fatigued from all the unnecessary jump scares to care. There were several moments were the dialog / delivery took me completely out of the scene to wonder where is this set, do people speak like that in whatever setting this is? It's not the worst thing to stream, but you'd need to be pretty deep into your queue before this ever seemed like a good choice.

Argemaluco The "criminals who become victims" concept has always been popular in horror cinema (Don't Breathe is a recent example I liked), and that might be because it adds an unexpected moral ambiguity which questions our perception regarding "good" and "evil" ones. And, on a more visceral sense, it creates an "instantaneous karma" sensation in which the criminals receive their punishment... even though we would like to see them escape sometimes). From a House on Willow Street follows that formula, but its main problem is that co-screenwriter Alaistar Orr (who is also the director), Jonathan Jordaan (sic) and Catherine Blackman reveal the kidnapped girl's secret too quickly, decreasing the tension and taking us through a prefabricated route which doesn't adequately exploit the "surprise factor". Besides, it's too obvious who the default "hero" (heroine, in this case) will be from the beginning; fortunately, that character is played by Sharni Vinson, whose work in horror cinema during the last 5 years (Bait, You're Next and Patrick: Evil Awakens) has made her become a versatile "scream queen" with an adequate emotional deepness. Vinson's scenic presence and credible reactions keep us moderately entertained despite the questionable narrative decisions and weak coincidences in which her character is involved. I will probably end up forgetting From a House on Willow Street as soon as I finish writing this review, but it didn't bore me, and I can give it a slight recommendation, mainly due to the gore and the presence of an actress whose affinity for the horror genre can rescue mediocre movies, such as... this one. We are still on time to redeem the "scream queen" term, and Vinson is one of the actresses capable of achieving it (other good alternatives: Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Anya Taylor-Joy).

bingcrosbyiscool Fairly nice production values and it feels like there was a good idea in here somewhere, but, what's with the story? They plan for six weeks and then... what, exactly? It's an amateurish mess from the first moment they put their "plan" into action. Rather than drawing us into a complex story with believable characters facing an improbable challenge, it turns into an "idiot plot"; in order for the story to continue, the characters have to be idiots.