Per Matt
Millennials and their social media these days. Just about everything they do revolves around page views and videos watched, always carefully calculating and crafting their online presence. But when you’ve got a relatively young couple looking to break into the business, safety is one of the first things to go out the door while reaching for the one million magic number, in terms of success.
Traveling through Europe, Tina (played by Camille Rowe) and Ben (James Jagger) learn about a “super secret spot” that can’t actually be found using GPS at a “slightly dying” village in France. At the bottom of a lake lies a perfectly preserved house that once stood before a man-made flood left it underwater. Once the adventure-seeking couple finds the location, it’s time to go scuba diving, while recording every second of the trip to The Deep House.
Their journey downward is claustrophobic, to say the least. With the assistance of their underwater drone nicknamed “Peeping Tom,” they find it, but basically break into the property, as it’s sealed up pretty well. Once inside, they slowly realize some strange occurrences. There’s no fish swimming near the house, they experience some sort of electrical interference and even hear an unusual voice through their shared radio frequency. If they weren’t superstitious before, that may change if they can only survive what lies beneath, where all your fears are just waiting to reach out and grab you!
“Everything’s weird underwater”
Part found-footage film, part riddle wrapped inside a dark mystery, I never got tired of either theme. In fact, I really enjoyed the storyline here, in what feels like a mashup of several genres. The creepiness factor of the house, itself, creates a setting that really pulls you in. Missing people posters, scary-looking dolls, scratch marks on the doors as if someone was trapped within when it was flooded and possessions that aren’t decayed or destroyed by the water, somehow skipped by mother nature, lure them deeper within. Will they have enough time to learn what actually happened there or will the horrors continue with the meddling of these characters?
Speaking of time, at one point the couple discuss the limited amount of oxygen they have, yet the deeper they go, this does not seem like a location they can exit quickly should an emergency present itself. And let me say, as a fan of underwater adventure/horror flicks, there’s a few really well-timed jump scares that truly surprised me (and that doesn’t happen too often).
“Top scares get maximum likes…”
There’s something about seeing an old house, frozen in time, fully decorated at the bottom of a lake. It’s not natural. And it’s just not smart to sneak around inside a private mausoleum/crypt. Maybe these characters deserve to be cursed by the property’s nightmare creatures, but the journey they take is a pretty great one.
Scanning the credits, Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Now You See Me, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance) is listed as an associate producer and I’m curious about his production responsibilities with this film. I enjoyed the supernatural horror The Deep House brings to life underwater, so it’s no surprise this is a Blumhouse release, distributed by EPIX.
The house of horrors has really cranked out a lot movies during the spooky season, from Welcome to the Blumhouse to Halloween Kills. This is yet another one you should check out. And always remember these famous last words:
“There’s no such thing as haunted houses…”