The Deep House (2021) - Movie Review
What do you get when you take Mick Jagger’s son and throw him into an underwater haunted house and sprinkle in some Cthulhu mythos?
A surprisingly decent horror flick.
Let’s discuss.
The Deep House is a 2021 Underwater Haunted House thriller brought to us by writers/directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury.
Haven’t heard of these guys?
Well, you should have. They are the genius writing team behind the original 2007 French Extreme classic Inside. One of the only films to make me get up and take a break and if you know me, you know that’s saying a lot.
But don’t go into The Deep House expecting extreme violence or gore. No, this film is much more subdued, but somehow got under my skin. The reason for this isn’t anything huge or ground breaking, but instead a great mix of brilliant performances behind the camera. Unlike other films shot underwater, The Deep House has incredible visuals. The cinematography before and after our protagonists enter the water is gorgeous. I was taken aback by the underwater sequences in particular as that is mostly what we see. Jacques Ballard does a masterful job capturing the essence of the film. It’s wide open on minute and claustrophobic the next. This goes hand in hand with an incredible sound design and score by Raphael Gesqua. The score is nothing complicated, but instead is a classic horror movie mix of ambient tones and ghostly song. Normally underwater sequences are a lot of Darth Vader style wheezing and garbled voices. This is capitalizes on the idea of modern scuba gear and microphones. The dialogue is crisp and clear, giving our protagonists the ability to convey their lines with sufficient diction that there isn’t a struggle to understand. It’s this clarity in their voices that adds to the tension as underwater, you can’t hear what’s going on around you. The scares saunter up silently and the music booms in surprise.
And I’ll be honest, the scares were effective. There were a few times I jumped and even shouted. My viewing partner Leslie and I both were taken aback by how effective the scares were. The majority of them were simple, classic scares akin to the original Vincent Price classic, The House on Haunted Hill, but underwater they seem ramped up to 11.
Oh, the synopsis?
Pardon me for not rushing through the review.
Geez!
The movie centers on a pair of budding YouTubers Ben (played by James Jagger) and Tina (played by Camille Rowe). Ben is desperate to hit 1 Million views on Youtube, because that’s when the money starts pouring in. Of course, in reality, most people know making money on Youtube is a lot harder than this and you get the feeling Tina knows this, but she plays along to placate the man she loves. Unfortunately, while Ben is an accomplished diver, Tina has never dived. She hasn’t even hit the minimum goals for being certified, but not wanting to disappoint her beau, she tells him she has and agrees to go with him on dive beneath a nearby lake. Lead by a strange man they met on the shores, they dive to see a village buried beneath the lake and in particular the one house that wasn’t leveled when the levy broke. This house in the deepest part of the lake is a sprawling estate covered in arcane imagery with doors that are welded shut. What would have warned off normal folks doesn’t work on Ben and he drags Tina inside the deep house. Once inside, they find a house untouched by the destruction that surrounds it. Everything is unmoved from before the flood, until Ben and Tina arrive. Then a dark hunger within the home awakes and Ben and Tina find themselves in downward spiral of madness, murder, and a trained ancestral legacy. Will they be able to escape before their air runs out? Or will they fall victim to the endless appetite of The Deep House?
I know what you really want to know.
James Jagger is actually fairly good here. His performance is organic and his non-verbals are spot on. He isn’t written as a likable character, but the Jagger swagger is strong with James. It helps that his voice is so much like his father’s unique tones. It’s an accent like any other and it really works here as you hear James’ voice more than you actually see his face. In the third act of the film, his acting becomes flat, but that’s more up to the direction of those scenes as he obviously has the chops to carry a film like this.
Camille Row is equally good as the Midsommar-esque gaslit girlfriend, but she gives the character more of a backbone. She’s a heroine that on land would be a force to reckon with, but underwater is completely defenseless.
The ghosts within the film as fantastically portrayed, their movements look boneless and unsettling. Each of them moves in a unique way that sets them apart. It’s as if their movement style is actually their way of communication. The young daughter ghosts moves like a rage fueled rocket through the water whereas her mother seems to drift like a piece of cloth.
The atmosphere is completely unsettling especially with he musical queues and crystal clear visuals. I love that outside the house the water is black and muddy and inside the house it’s crystal clear. It’s as if the darkness of the muddy water was a defense mechanism of the lake, trying to prevent our heroes from entering into the cursed abode.
I don’t want to do spoilers on this one as it’s a short film of 85 minutes. It’s a brief, tense ride into the Cthulhu Mythos reminiscent of the cult hit Beneath Still Waters. Unlike that film though, the Lovecraftian elements are clearly seen through the Seal of Murmur and flashes of the Elder Sign. This is a taught thriller without exposition or droll over explanation. It’s a simple haunted house flick set beneath the waves.
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