House

MPAA Rating:

for some violence and terror.

Reviewed by: Angela Bowman
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating:

Very Offensive

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Moviemaking Quality:

Primary Audience:

Adults

Genre:

Horror, Thriller, Drama

Length:

1 hr. 41 min.

Year of Release:

2008

USA Release:

November 7, 2008

Copyright, More Entertainment and Namesake Entertainment

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Featuring:	Michael Madsen “Reservoir Dogs,” “Kill Bill” Vol. 1 and 2, “Sin City” Reynaldo Rosales “She Hates Me,” “Homeland Security” Heidi Dippold “NCIS,” “Alias”, “The Sopranos” Julie Ann Emery “Hitch,” “Commander in Chief,” “ER” Bill Moseley “The Devil's Rejects,” “House of a 1000 Corpses” Allana Bale, J.P. Davis, Jeffrey de Graft-Johnson, Pawel Delag, Leslie Easterbrook, Mark Fierer, Joe Goodman, Andrew Gorzen, Holly McClure, Bobby Neutz, Albert Pietrzak, Weronika Rosati, Florentyna Synowiecka, Lew Temple
Director:	Robby Henson “Thr3e” (2006), “The Visitation” (2006)
Producer:	Ted Dekker “Thr3e” (2007) Frank Peretti “The Visitation” Ralph Winter, Wojtek Frykowski, Joe Goodman, Bobby Neutz, Kelly Neutz, Daniel Russell, Marek Sledziewski, Michael Webber
Distributor:	Roadside Attractions / Lions Gate Films Home

“The only way out… is in.”

“House” is based on the novel by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. It centers around a young couple, Jack (Reynaldo Rosales) and Stephanie (Heidi Dippold), who are in a troubled marriage, and on their way to counseling, who end up stranded in a rural area. The young couple happens upon the Wayside Inn. They enter to find the house empty, save another couple in the same predicament (Randy, played by J.P. Davis and Leslie, played by Julie Ann Emery). But just as their nerves are beginning to settle, the host family returns and the nightmare really begins. The four houseguests are forced to face inner struggles brought to life, while trapped in a maze of a “haunted house” that has a mind of it’s own, hunted by the Master of the House, who has set out three house rules.

Rule #1: God came into my house, and I killed him.
Rule #2: I will kill anyone who comes into my house, as I killed God.
Rule #3: Give me one dead body before sunrise, and I may let Rule #2 slide.

It appears that the only way out is for one of them to die.

“House” is definitely not a family film, and I would have to agree with the “R” rating it has received. Along with the elements of terror, it contains adult themes, satanic references and symbols and a good deal of violence and death, including violence using guns and knives. One of the female characters wears a low-cut dress revealing cleavage. While she is at the inn with one man, she flirts with Jack, who is married. She is portrayed as promiscuous, due to a past traumatic experience that plays out in the film, and there is one scene in which they start to kiss, however he does not follow through. Another scene that one might find particularly troubling is of a young boy shooting another person. The characters who are possessed by demons have black smoking coming from them, and, in some cases, their eyes glaze over showing the demons beneath, and there are multiple satanic symbols.

Technically speaking, this film was quite impressive for a lower-budget production (estimated at $2,500,000). While there were a few obviously “fake” scenes, overall, the special effects that the story called for were very good. Unfortunately, this is the only positive quality I could find with this movie, because everything else about it was very disturbing.

Trying to give the production the benefit of the doubt, I considered that “House” was made as a secular film and not a Christian film, however whether or not one labels this a Christian film, it still has the same problems from a Christian standpoint.

First of all is the general darkness of the film. The images of violence and murder made me think upon Philippians 4:8, that we are to think about things that are noble, right, pure, lovely, whatever is admirable, and, from that standpoint, I can’t help but wonder how God would feel about entertainment that brings down the spirit and leaves a person with disturbing images and thoughts.

However, while some may be able to overlook this aspect, I simply cannot overlook the second, which is the satanic element. There are a few satanic symbols shown, the most prevalent being the Church of Satan symbol, which is the inverted pentagram and goat’s head, and it is made very clear that the evil forces are satanic. The problem with this is that, while the evil element is very clear, the good element is not clear at all, and, in explanation, I am afraid that I have to give away an important piece of the ending. The good element is portrayed by a young girl, who dies and becomes a light that destroys the evil. As Christians, we may assume that this is supposed to be a representative of Jesus Christ, however this is never made clear in the film. And while you might argue that it is allegorical, then I must ask why the evil is not as well. If there is a battle with Satan clearly on one side, then we must have Jesus clearly on the other side. 2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us that Satan can appear to be an angel of light, so the fact that this girl turns into light means nothing, and Ephesians 6:10-18, which speaks of spiritual warfare, tells us that our weapon against Satan is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

While scripture regarding light and darkness is mentioned, the film does not further explain this, and, in fact, it is quite literally the light within the girl that overcomes the satanic darkness. Of further concern, some people believe in feminine gods, and therefore could justify their beliefs through this film.

The bottom-line is that only Jesus can save us from Satan, because He is the one who defeated Satan. It is not a girl or a light; it is Jesus.

Violence: Heavy / Profanity: Mild / Sex/Nudity: Moderate

Also see our Christian Film News™ article - “House” - Dekker and Peretti’s horror/thriller receives theatrical release

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

Comments below:

Positive
Neutral
Negative
Young people
Non-viewer comments

Positive

Positive - I thought it was good for adults and mature teens. Young children should not see it without an adult, it was pretty sceary for most parts, but not the whole thing. There was nothing bad about it, because it's a Christian movie and book, I enjoyed the book and movie. The book was based on what your heart feels and looks like, and how to be strong in your faith and belive that all things happen for the good. I really liked it!!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4
—Mike, age 24

Neutral

Neutral - My husband and I read the book that this movie portrays. So, naturally we watched the movie as well. The book (as always) is way better than the movie. We have to admit that the gospel message was not as obvious as it was in the book. It seems the movie producers watered down the gospel message quite a bit. It wasn't clear, as it was in the book, that the characters needed to get saved to overcome the sin inside of them. In the movie it is not clear that the characters got saved and that is why they were able to overcome the darkness. Whereas in the book, it is clear.

The reason satanic images are used is to make it clear to the viewer that satan is at work within the house. The creator of this story is not glorifying or endorsing satanism by using these images. Although the images are disturbing, they are used to make a point that satan is the one at work in our lives when we don't have Christ as our Savior. Dekker (the story's author) merely used these symbols to make a point.

We have to admit that we were overall disappointed with the movie. The gospel message was watered down; and it was not made clear as the only answer for the characters dilemma and sinful state. The book's message was clear that salvation from sin is only found it Christ, but the movie definitely did not get this across—it only hinted at it.

The movie could have been powerful had the gospel message been obvious and blunt. We realize that fellow well-known Christians have complained that we should not make the gospel message obvious in a movie because it comes across as 'cheesy.' But, my husband and I strongly disagree. We have watched movies (even one recently—“Fireproof”) where the gospel was clearly and bluntly presented, but in a very creative way, and it was very powerful. Maybe Dekker, the creator of this story, was following the advice of not making the gospel clear when he made this movie. Or maybe in order to make the movie, he felt he had to. The movie could have had the power to change lives had the message of Christ been made clear.

We recommed reading the novel “House” instead of seeing the movie.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4.5
—Stephanie, age 31

Negative

none

Comments from young people

Negative - From what I've heard of the movie it is definitely one centered in evil. It sounds like a warped version of the book, also very dark, but with a strong relation to the darkness we as humans face. The book is very symbolic of the life we live in with Satan before we give our lives to Christ. The books very scary with a positive message at the end.

I would reccomend staying away from the movie, but if you feel neccessary to indulge in something creepy, check out the book where there is a clear line between pure evil and scary Christian metaphores.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
—Alyssa, age 15

Positive - I am 14 years old, and I think I understand this movie more than you do. I'm not trying to be rude or anything but it seems you expected this movie to be full of preachyness like “Fireproof” or “Left Behind.” It's not any of those movies. This movie wasn't made for Christians in mind. It was made for the lost. The people who delight themselves in this type of darkness not understanding what the darkness is actually doing to them.

You questioned the fact that you didn't understand who Susan was. That was simple… and I'm 14 and only been a Christian since I was 11. Susan was portraying the light of Jesus. When Jesus walked the earth he also talked about light destroying darkness but no one around him but his disciples understood what he was referring to. They called him a blasphemer (sp?) and then killed him for it, but his death was a sacrifice that he gave to let the light out and destroy the darkness that was sin. Sin WAS death, but with Jesus's sacrifice we are able to live eternaly with Him. That is what Susan did. We didn't have to play the game sin makes us play but we need to seek the light. Jack and Stephanie understood that after Susan was shot… just like humanity understood Jesus after he was crusified.

It's not a hard concept to understand. You just need to pay attention. I had a friend watch this with me, and he's an Atheist, and he understood it like I did, without me having to explain anything. He thought it was cool how they put that into the story so well. I'm taking a guess that you think too much with your head in the clouds. If you opened your eyes then maybe you'll understand. You need to take away the bubble that you've created for yourself. That's why non-Christians hate Christians so much today is because Christians put themselves in bubbles and point out the “dirty” people outside the bubble. God breaks out bubbles and pushes us outside our comfort zones and into the fires so he can refine us so we shine and are seen more pure that much more. This movie is what is doing that. Pushing the Christian entertainment culture out of its comfort zone and to the people it needs to reach. We need to stop making only movies that reach clean families and start making honest portrails of our culture and what they are interested in and reach them from there. I'm not saying having a drink with them at a bar while preaching, but being honest with them. Including the honesty of evil and what it does to people. We need to reach people on an individual basis before we reach the families. We're putting too much on ourselves that way.

“House” is for the lost… not the found. It's for the people still in the darkness that need to know what the light is. If you want a movie that's catered to the already saved, watch “Fireproof.” It has enough sappy and preachy moments to fill several Sundays. “House” is in the trenches for the people you seemed to have given up on. This just isn't from your post alone but from a lot of posts from a lot of different sites. …I am only pointing out what is wrong with our Christian culture today. And remember… I'm only 14 and haven't been a Christian that long, raised by my older brother.…
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4.5
—Isaac Miller, age 14

Positive - I saw this movie with my friends (all 16), and we would rate this either a PG movie. It is not at all scary! And there is positive stuff in this movie. To understand it, you have to READ all of Ted Dekker's books.…
My Ratings: Moral rating: Excellent! / Moviemaking quality: 3.5
—Daniel Kastner, age 16

Comments from non-viewers

Negative - …I have not seen this movie and have no desire too. I read the book, though, because I enjoy many of Frank Peretti's books. However, as I was reading it, I found it—for lack of a better word—weird. The whole concept of the book was just weird. And some people might find it disturbing. Four people trapped in a basement with a killer after them and the killer's sidekicks?? Okay, I appreciated that lack of foul language (at least, I don't remember any) and no sexual content. But the main reason I am labeling this “negative” is how does it truly have a Christian storyline? Couldn't they do a better job making the message of Christ more obvious? This is all referring to the book storyline, not the movie, since I haven't seen it. To me, it was like they labeled it “Christian” and squeezed in a pathetic attempt for a gospel message. Now, I know it is not supposed to be a movie like “Fireproof” or “Facing the Giants,” but surely someone must agree that the message could have been clearer. I finished the book with a frown. “That was it?” I was disapointed with the book, because thoughout the entire story I was hoping for a really good ending. Boy, was I wrong. I just think that the Gospel message should have been clearer, not pathetically squeezed in.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
—Vicki, age 15 (USA)