A horror can gain much from its locale, helping to set a tone and tension thanks to effective set work. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre feels more real as the surroundings seem to be rotting in front of the viewer. The Descent is a remarkably tense watch thanks to its cave system setting, lit by torchlight. And every creak and groan in The Orphanage heightens the sense of dread integral to that work. So it is with The Deep House, a found footage spookfest that gains much from the titular property, an intact house at the bottom of a lake in France. A pair of Youtubers who encroach upon the abandoned property to explore them have set their sites on it, and the film follows them into it, their presence seemingly unleashing the darkness within.
Once we enter the eponymous abode, this piece gains tension. It really is an effectively creepy setting, one that the directors should have preferably gotten to earlier.
Influencers have become a prominent feature of the genre and there is a degree of glee gained from watching this trope undergo great suffering. But there’s not enough here to make either Camille Rowe’s Tina or James Jagger’s Ben particularly compelling to follow through the film’s brisk runtime. Once we dive underwater this feels less of an issue. But it does make the opening particularly weak, as the viewer spends time getting to know our two Youtubers. Not even the presence of Eric Savin’s harbinger Pierre can lift this portion of the film up.
But once we enter the eponymous abode, this piece gains tension. It really is an effectively creepy setting, one that the directors should have preferably gotten to earlier. And this is an intriguing work from Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (Livid, Leatherface, Kandisha). Having made their name as part of the New French Extremity in the 2000s (their debut, Inside, is a gruelling, brutal watch and one of the best of this movement), the duo have seemingly struggled to recapture that creative energy. I’m not sure this is the work that brings them back to that place, but it is a fascinating branch outwards, delving into a new subgenre. What is interesting in their set-up and the moments where the horror connects with the viewer, makes it all the more disappointing that The Deep House is a rather disappointing whole. I continue to watch Bustillo and Maury’s careers with interest though.
THE DEEP HOUSE IS OUT ON DAZZLER MEDIA BLU-RAY
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The Deep House
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