Known mainly for its re-releases of classic horror titles, Scream Factory goes outside its norm once again by releasing Vietnamese supernatural thriller "House in the Alley." Just like with the foreign- made "Dead Shadows," they're taking a step (albeit smaller) in the right direction with this entry in the haunted house sub-genre. I wish I could report that I was completely enthralled by the film, but a very slow start and questionable pacing left me unconvinced.

Just as a young couple is settling into their new house, they suffer a miscarriage. Thao is traumatized by the event and becomes withdrawn. Her husband, Thanh, does his best to console her amidst the stresses of everyday life, a demanding mother, and their family business. When Thao starts hearing and seeing things, she begins to think she's losing her mind. The couple becomes more unhinged when Thanh starts experiencing strange phenomena around the house as well. Are they cracking under the strain of the death of their child or is something unexplainable happening in their home?

Writer/Director Le-Van Kiet goes out of his way to set up and slow-cook the tension into "House in the Alley." I think he was on the right track, but got a bit too heavy-handed along the way. The first two acts drift uneasily in and out of long bouts of dialogue, creepy jump scares, and suspenseful stretches.

The third act of "House in the Alley" is what saved the movie. It's jam- packed full of violent outbursts and some of the most unsettling shots of a possessed Thao. The woman who plays her does an incredible job transitioning between tense calm and rabid psychosis very quick. The last ten minutes of the film come close to redeeming the first seventy or so. I don't want to insinuate that all of acts one and two are disposable, but there is a whole lot of talking that I think could've been trimmed down.

Although it's not rated, "House in the Alley" could easily get away with an "R" if put in front of the MPAA. The movie includes language, violence, gore, and adult situations. There's no nudity to be seen. Instead of unnecessary sensuality and foul language, we get a film that attempts to rely on story and character development.

Writer/Director Le-Van Kiet's attempt at fashioning his version of a tension-building 1970's supernatural thriller isn't a complete write- off. Some might feel "House in the Valley's" slow movement towards an explosive climax to be welcome. I just think it has too much extra padding added to stretch it out to feature length. Maybe it would've worked better as a short film or as part of an anthology collection.

When they lose their baby in a miscarriage, a young couple decide to move and begin happily settling into their new life in their spacious home, but when she begins to act like there's something wrong with her and he has several weird encounters they suspect something is wrong with the house and must try to get away alive.

For the most part, this one is a highly enjoyable ghost story. A lot of what really works well here is due to the story, which takes plenty of cues from the genre's past to tell a creepy tale about parental trauma and guilt. Quickly moving away from the traumatic setup about the stillborn birth and her fractured mindset at losing her child, the first-half where she's quiet and reserved trying to move past it despite his sincere best attempts to help her as well as focus back on work lays an intriguing groundwork for later. With the clear and obvious aspect that she's not moved on with the way she acts around the now-abandoned nursery, dealing with her mother or their date-night creating a strain on top of his work-life, it all creates the prototypical perfect storm of loss and grief that makes one an obvious target for supernatural activity. As this occurs alongside the other storyline about his job creating undue stress on the both of them, a finely-tuned psychological mindset is employed that potentially enhances or undermines everything around them as there's enough at play here that the incidents around their house are justifiably arguable as to whether they're genuine supernatural hauntings or the result of a fractured mental state. When the film moves away from this psychological setup, the scares created are quite impressive. Initially starting small with eerie ethereal children laughing heard nearby or hallucinations of blood seeping from unnatural objects, the change into much larger and more impressive scares as they spend more time in the house begins gradually increasing which makes for a fun time. Seeing the ghost of a baby pop-up in the middle of the bed between them is inordinately chilling, much like the constant accidents he has that are caused by the belief that someone is in the house with them and being startled to the point of injury. The idea that she's become unhinged with the attempted burning of the nursery or standing outside in the rain while nude offers up even more clues that something isn't right, and the lead-in to the full reveal of what's been going on in the house leads to some incredibly thrilling scenes here. The final race to finish off the threat facing them is quite suspenseful, utilizing some creepy imagery with the ghost kids and several well-timed jump-scares to deliver a harrowing sequence that ends the film on a high note. Overall, these aspects make the film quite fun and enjoyable. There are a few problems with this one. It's biggest issue is the rather slow-burn approach that doesn't provide the swiftest pacing for a genre film, taking a more measured approach to the storyline that can make the film feel like a drag at points. As the first half tends to focus more on setting up their relationship problems as well as his work struggles involving the pushy mother and well-meaning brother, there's not a lot of genuine thrills here beyond a few sporadic encounters that are too brief to generate anything more than minor thrills. As the work-struggles storyline is the one that goes nowhere with him being unable to come to terms with being there while wanting to stay with her to the disappointment of his mother, it serves as a plot-point increasing his stress without much else. Therefore, these scenes are quite problematic stalling the pacing to get them out of the way instead of doing something more thrilling or suspenseful. The other issue here is a somewhat halfhearted finale explanation for everything that's going on, using a single conversation as a coda at the end of the film to tell what's going on and this makes it feel like a copout way of offering a reason for the hauntings. Beyond these factors, there's not much wrong here.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.