Nigel P This anthology film starts in a refreshing manner. A standard family emerge from their home in sunny suburbia to have dinner at a neighbours'. Whereas often the family would be swapping cutesy witticisms with each other, this one is arguing and cursing before their own front door is shut behind them. As it turns out, this family returns to feature in the last of this trio of tales involving various bloody misdeeds that have occurred in the basement of this house over the years.Of the three stories, the first is an enjoyably perverse, open-ended piece in which hints are given about possible unsavoury relations between four family members involved in a séance.The second is my favourite, and features a gleefully animalistic character who keeps his 'guests' in two cages. One, he abuses regularly but keeps alive – she is his 'audience'. The second cage is used far more regularly, as the unfortunates he brings to that one don't live for very long after he begins to systematically torture them in various graphic ways. The relationship takes on an almost humorous familiarity before it, too, ends with no real sense of closure.And to the third story, which deals with the original family being tortured also, in various horrifying ways – perhaps the worst is the daughter of the house stabbed multiple times and then thrown into a bath of lemon juice. Without any real narrative, however, this emerges simply as scenes of torture for the sake of it.There's no real conclusion to the overall story either, which is disappointing, other than now, in the present day, someone has actually brought the property, and already there is a body in the basement … This is an odd experience. At turns gratuitous, funny, but ultimately fairly plot less.

lazarillo This an anthology horror film about a sexy female realtor (Monique Parent, who appeared in countless softcore porn films in the 90's) showing a young couple house where all kinds of horrible things have happened. It's basically the same plot as Hammer's "The House that Dripped Blood" (and the John Ritter TV movie "Terror Tract"). The first story is the best. It's about a very messed-up family--the mother is mentally ill and off her meds, the father may be sleeping with the daughter, and the son has become murderously resentful. It all blows up when they're forced to seek shelter down in the basement during a storm (with a whole lot of knives). I've noticed that when they treat the subject of incest in movies, they're often so circumspect about it that they ironically don't make it nearly as ugly as it would be in real life. It also may be a little hypocritical here because they prominently display this alleged teen incest victim in her underwear (although I seriously doubt the actress is really young a teen). On the other hand, I did appreciate that the subject is treated with some ambiguity and subtlety because NOTHING ELSE in this movie is.I hate to describe the last two stories as sheer "torture porn" because I really don't like that term. Most people watch horror and porn for completely different reason. Still, the second story is pretty much just unrelenting sadism about a serial killer who tortures and murders victims of both sexes in his basement and has kept one woman alive to periodically sexually assault, but mostly watch him kill the others. This is hard to take very seriously because the acting isn't very believable and there's zero character development, but it did make me question why I was watching this in the first place. When torture goes on long enough, it isn't really "horror" anymore; the term "porn" is not really accurate because only a very disturbed person is going to get turned on by this, but there is something unpleasant and definitely not very fun about it.The third story, unfortunately, is more of the same except the victims are a whole family (with yet another teenage girl stripped to her underwear) being victimized by their crazy older neighbor. This segment has the only "name" actor in Felissa Rose, who played the transgendered killer in "Sleepaway Camp". I think anybody with a family will find this really hard to watch, and the ending is definitely harder to take than the second. But there is SOME black humor here because the neighbor is set off when the father forgets to return his weed-whacker! Still, it's less funny when he sets on the teen daughter for being scantily clad and promiscuous. I don't know what he has against the younger children. The movie shatters some cinematic taboos here, but it really does it just to do it.Overall though, I wouldn't describe this movie as offensive, and it certainly does succeed at being pretty grueling. But it is also pretty puerile, definitely pointless (any point it has usually ends up shoved in someone's eye), and just not a lot of fun.

ms-omen73 I have been reading about this film on numerous sites for a few months now and the variance of opinions has shown itself to be as wide as the Grand Canyon! That, to me, is a sure sign I need to watch something for myself to see which side of the fence I fall on, one of my nerdy idiosyncrasies. So I was pretty excited when I found out that Wild Eye Releasing had picked this one up for distribution and would be soon available. Then lo and behold the sky parted, the shafts of light beamed down upon my doorstep one morning recently, and shone brightly on a wonderful little package from the great folks over at Wild Eye! It was like Christmas morning and the mailman had become Santa! I hurried inside feeling a bit giddy with anticipation, quickly tearing into the box with the relative care of a 3 yr old, (angles voices cascade through the air), when what do my wondering eyes see, but 11 dvds tucked nicely in box in front of me!!! Okay so maybe that was a bit much but hey it was pretty awesome and I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this one included in the titles! If you haven't heard of this one let me fill you in. The Perfect House is an anthology film that has 3 main shorts, and they are all tied together under the guise of a newlywed couple, searching for their dream home, and they think this could just be The Perfect House for them! See each short is set inside the home at a various time period, with a different family, or cast of characters, suffering varying horrible fates, all of which we get to relive as the newly weds and their seriously over sexed real estate agent move from area to area of the home. Lets do a quick breakdown of the tales:The Storm~ A family of four seeks shelter from a raging storm in their basement. Quickly we see the cracks in this family and realize its not the weather they should be afraid of... Chic-Ken~ we find ourselves witnessing the execution of one mans grand plan to thin the heard with the help of his caged, captive muse. This one begs the question how well do you know what your neighbor is doing behind closed doors?? Dinner Guest~ what starts out as a friendly offer to break bread amongst neighbors escalates to something much more sinister, that will leave one family wishing they had stayed in and ordered pizza! The Perfect house has got some attention grabbing names attached to it like Fellisa Rose (most notably of Sleepaway Camp fame, which if you were like me, scarred you for life with something you had never before even contemplated lol) John Philbin (The Return of the Living Dead) and Jonathon Tierston (also of Sleepaway Camp) all giving this one cult appeal right from the get go! All of them performed well but Fellisa and Jonathon both individually were stand outs their personal performances. I was also pretty impressed with relative new comer Holly Greene. All in all the performances across the board are pretty good, with a few better than others, a couple that are just entirely lack luster, but it all balances out pretty well, as the weakest tend to be very small bit players. As a whole I thought this was a smart film, and I really enjoyed it. Often in anthologies the thread that holds the stories together making them relevant to one another is tenuous at best, but this offered stories that really did flow well within original premise of the film. and when you get to the real heart of the film its all about appearances of suburban normalcy and what that facade may actually be hiding, making for a pretty interesting and thoughtful watch (especially if you enjoy looking into the deeper possible meanings of films).My personal favorite short of the anthology has to be The Storm. A great example of how things may appear one way, when in reality they are really something very different. It was smartly done, with some nice twists, and changes in perspective as you peer into their lives, as witnessed by each member. Its a nice paced psychological horror piece that left me shaking my head with admiration!I thought the film, as a whole was pretty good ( id even say worthy of popcorn!). I think if I hadn't read so much on this one first I probably would have enjoyed it more though. I read over and over that it was a gore fest from start to end and it does have more blood and gore than the average film, it wasn't what I was expecting in that department. However that doesn't mean lacks gore it just wasn't the over the top effects I had imagined, but gore hounds will admire the second piece in the anthology which offers up some really meaty moments in practical effects that are sure to catch your "eye":! This is a film I definitely would recommend, the cult names alone make it worth owning! Past the names the film is a well written introspective look at suburban living that will leave you thinking about what your neighbors may really be up to and what the hell they think about what it is your up to! Every family has its secrets, and every home helps keep them... The Perfect House...HeatherOmen TheHorrorNation.net

Woodyanders A young couple check out a new house that turns out to have a dark and violent history. First story - A dysfunctional family holes up in the basement during a fierce storm. Gorgeously shot in black and white, this one has a frighteningly unstable mom from hell and a strong brooding atmosphere. Second yarn - Vicious serial killer John Doesy (robustly played with lip-smacking warped relish by Jonathan Tiersten) keeps his victims locked up in cages in the cellar. Tiersten's energetic acting as a blithe psycho who loves to torment his prey gives this segment an extra jarring sting. Third tale - A sick and sadistic stranger (a positively terrifying portrayal by Dustin Stevens) puts a family through a grueling and harrowing ordeal. Arguably the most brutal and upsetting segment of the bunch, this one delivers an especially savage kick to the gut mainly because of the startling way that it places kids in substantial jeopardy. Moreover, Felissa Rose of "Sleepaway Camp" fame impresses as the hapless mother.Directors Kris Hulbert and Randy Kent maintain a zippy pace throughout, keep the tone appropriately harsh and grim tone from start to finish, deliver oodles of hideously graphic gore, and further spruce things up with touches of wickedly amusing pitch-black humor. Moreover, it's Hulbert and Kent's bold willingness to push the limits of what's considered tasteful and acceptable which in turn provides an additional unsettling edginess; this is no-holds-barred horror that means serious ferocious business and goes right for the throat sans restraint or apology. The fact that everything shown in the movie is within the realm of horrific possibility rates as another significant scary and unnerving asset. Monique Parent's sizzling presence as a sexy real estate agent ensures that the wraparound segment totally hums. Kudos are also in order for Tal Lazar's sharp widescreen cinematography and Frederik Wiedmann's ominous bone-rattling score. A nice'n'nasty item.