I used to say that the most frightening part of writing Examiner horror movie reviews a decade ago was how so few films were genuinely scary. Despite a genre entry opening almost every weekend, most of the underdeveloped frighteners struggled to create cogent stories, complex characters, or deliver scares that weren’t as cheap as dirt.
So, imagine a decade later, how pleasing it is when an indie frightener comes along that manages to not only deliver a novel concept, but is made with exceptional craftsmanship, boasts an accomplished cast, and exudes a genuinely disturbing air from first frame to last. That film is HOUSE OF ABRAHAM, and it’s all the more impressive since it’s the very first feature from director Lisa Belcher. She’s an accomplished actress and producer, not to mention a director of several shorts, but this is her first full-length movie and it’s one sharp, witty, and scary outing.
HOUSE OF ABRAHAM concerns a special estate where various sorts come to end their life. The retreat is hosted by Abraham (Lukas Hassel) in a tony, modern home set far from the madding crowd in the country woods. There, he’s assisted by the petite and proficient Beatrice (horror film veteran Lin Shaye) and together they welcome their handful of special guests with well-appointed rooms, home-cooked meals, not to mention the kind of deep dinner conversation that would be the envy of any Manhattan elite. As the prophet-like host, Abraham suggests Jesus by way of a Harlequin romance cover. He’s tall and buff, with a groomed beard and shoulder-length mane. Abraham uses his rich vocals to convince his skeptical guests just how glorious suicide can be, conjuring up memories of the silky evil George Sanders employed to voice Shere Khan in the animated THE JUNGLE BOOK back in 1967. (Abraham is a tiger you’ll want to keep your eye on here as he’s apt to pounce too.)
Hassel has written the screenplay here as well and it’s chock full of keen dialogue and meditations on suffering, the cruelty of existence, and why choosing to defy nature is an acceptable course. (His favorite mantra is “Life is not for everyone.”) If it wasn’t for the horror elements, Abraham’s pontificating could make for the best philosophy class in college, but Belcher ensures that it’s given just the proper sprinkling of sinister. What exactly is Abraham getting out of all this, and why is he seemingly so hellbent on making sure every guest follows through on their desire to leave the planet?
Belcher and Hassel raise other shrewd questions along the way too, giving this horror film a psychological thriller layer as well. What drives the host’s death obsession? Why is Abraham’s cabin off-limits to the guests? Why are the guest cellphones immediately disposed upon entry? And if the guests found their way to the House of Abraham via the dark web, why would such a weekend come wrapped in the aura of a spa package? Such questions give this venture an aura of satire too, making it all the more fun and funny.
William Magnuson, Kali Sykes, Gary Clarke, Marval A Rex, Sean Freeland, and Natasha Henstridge play the guests, all with varying degrees of uncertainty about wanting to end their lives. Henstridge plays Dee, the lead female and ostensibly the fly in the story’s ointment as well. She starts out antagonistic and steadily ratchets her angst up to combativeness. It’s easy to understand why – – as a child she witnessed her dead mother immediately after she took a box cutter to her wrists and the trauma has embittered her since those dark days. Now, Dee herself seems to be feeling suicidal, hence her paying Abraham for his assistance, but there seems to be even more to her motivations.
Exactly what Dee is doing will only add to the wonderful mystery of it all, even though she tends to clunk around like a bull in a china shop, getting caught left and right as she breaks protocol. Henstridge, horror royalty since essaying the role of of Sil in the 1995 classic SPECIES, plays her role with great edge, never asking for pity, and often making for a character that we’re not sure isn’t part antagonist herself. It adds sophistication to the proceedings that can sometimes be too easily predicted before they occur.
The mind games between Dee and Abraham turn the horror film into a cat and mouse thriller as well, and such top-spin makes it very watchable even with some pretty gruesome deaths occurring right before our eyes. It helps that the production never looks cheap even during its bloodletting. Belcher’s instills the entire production with excellence from its insinuating score by Steffen Schmidt to the sharp cinematography by Alex Walker to the crisp editing by Lars Gustafson.
Of course, what truly distinguishes the better horror films are those that have more on their minds than just jump scares. HOUSE OF ABRAHAM serves up a lot of food for thought about what we can control in our lives and why we often let trauma defeat us. Grief, acceptance, perseverance – they are all choices we can make to help us get through the worst of times in our lives, and this film is surprisingly deft in its messaging about choosing to try and stand tall against misfortune.
I couldn’t think of a happier last thought to a film that’s all about ending it all.
