The House At The End Of Time is touted as being the first feature length horror-thriller from Venezuela...and it is that country's highest grossing film of all time.
It tells the story of a woman named Dulce, based on the experiences she has after moving into a house with a dark history.
Basically, the house had sat abandoned for years, only to see the government seize it and offer to a family in need.
Enter Dulce and her family.
They move into the house, only to start experiencing eerie phenomenon.
Then, one night, they are attacked by ghosts: an old man carrying a knife, and a young boy, at least.
We follow from the perspective of Dulce, who wakes up bleeding on the ground...only to find her husband stabbed...and watch her son be seized away into the darkness.
For this, she is arrested. Because there is no evidence that anyone else was ever in the house...and she can't explain the dead body and missing boy.
Fast forward 30 years later, and Dulce (now an elderly woman) has been released from prison and returned to her home.
She is under protective custody, but is adamant that she wants to find her child. So she illicits the help of the local priest.
He is able to offer her moral and psychological support, but the police won't let him hang around long enough to help otherwise. So, she is left to deal with things on her own.
And this is where it starts to get trippy.
She begins to experience the events from that fateful day in her past again...but from the other side.
Effectively making her the ghost that has been haunting her past self.
And as the story continues, you slowly start to realize...that her and her family have become lost souls...trapped in time...living out their torment cyclically, forever.
Which might seem horrific, if there wasn't a couple of light-hearted- and extremely clever- twists at the end.
This film is expertly constructed in a circular fashion. And the second half acts as a mirror image of the first (in reverse).
In this sense, it works a lot like Oculus. In that it is an engaging puzzler, whose direction shifts drastically, as you get deeper into the film and are provided with more context.
And that is what makes this film so damn enjoyable.
It's not too complex either. It's really easy to follow, which leaves it accessible to more mainstream audiences.
This is a great film that you should definitely check out.
Not only does it scare you...it establishes Hidalgo as a master manipulator.
Definitely see this...and don't wait for the remake.
7.5 out of 10.
It tells the story of a woman named Dulce, based on the experiences she has after moving into a house with a dark history.
Basically, the house had sat abandoned for years, only to see the government seize it and offer to a family in need.
Enter Dulce and her family.
They move into the house, only to start experiencing eerie phenomenon.
Then, one night, they are attacked by ghosts: an old man carrying a knife, and a young boy, at least.
We follow from the perspective of Dulce, who wakes up bleeding on the ground...only to find her husband stabbed...and watch her son be seized away into the darkness.
For this, she is arrested. Because there is no evidence that anyone else was ever in the house...and she can't explain the dead body and missing boy.
Fast forward 30 years later, and Dulce (now an elderly woman) has been released from prison and returned to her home.
She is under protective custody, but is adamant that she wants to find her child. So she illicits the help of the local priest.
He is able to offer her moral and psychological support, but the police won't let him hang around long enough to help otherwise. So, she is left to deal with things on her own.
And this is where it starts to get trippy.
She begins to experience the events from that fateful day in her past again...but from the other side.
Effectively making her the ghost that has been haunting her past self.
And as the story continues, you slowly start to realize...that her and her family have become lost souls...trapped in time...living out their torment cyclically, forever.
Which might seem horrific, if there wasn't a couple of light-hearted- and extremely clever- twists at the end.
This film is expertly constructed in a circular fashion. And the second half acts as a mirror image of the first (in reverse).
In this sense, it works a lot like Oculus. In that it is an engaging puzzler, whose direction shifts drastically, as you get deeper into the film and are provided with more context.
And that is what makes this film so damn enjoyable.
It's not too complex either. It's really easy to follow, which leaves it accessible to more mainstream audiences.
This is a great film that you should definitely check out.
Not only does it scare you...it establishes Hidalgo as a master manipulator.
Definitely see this...and don't wait for the remake.
7.5 out of 10.