This kind of topic is not paranormal anymore, but it remains not so bad, efficient if you watch this only from time to time. But IF you see this kind of horror film one after the other, that's another matter. It belongs to the very very very long list of features which DNA is named CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, BLAIRWITCH PROJECT, CLOVERFIELD, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, and so on, Spanish, French Eastern Europe stuff, a sort of new wave in matter of filming. I think that also can be seen as a disguised way to dissimulate lousy, clumsy directing skills. This way, if a director doesn't know how to place or move a camera, NO ONE NOTICES IT. Because the camera is supposed to be handled by one of the characters of the story !!!! And a character, for instance a simple tourist is not supposed to be a professional skilled film director. See what I mean? This way, anyone with a tiny budget and a handful of friends can make a horror movie in the deep countryside without any problem, no authorization and important technical crew, ONLY his cell phone and above all without any directing skills !!!! ha ha ha Why not, knowing this, I still can appreciate this new breed of features. But, I repeat, in small doses, because it may scare you, and I am an old timer, who grew up with Bob Wise's THE HAUNTING. So, if i want to direct a movie, without any abilities of any kind, no matter the shaky or too still camera, I know what to do. I will only need a cell phone, some friends or a simple broad, and of course some good ideas. ha ha ha
House Swap
2010
Action / Horror / Thriller
House Swap
2010
Action / Horror / Thriller
Plot summary
A young California screenwriter and his composer girlfriend exchange their Echo Park home for a sprawling Tudor mansion near Glastonbury, England, in the hope of finding creative inspiration. Thinking they have the best of the bargain, they soon learn that the house comes with a stalker who seems able to enter through locked doors. Driven beyond endurance by the continual harassment, the screenwriter sets a trap to exact his revenge... The film consists of 'found' material from the screen writer's video diary which, after the events, has been assessed by the Somerset police. This is a true story.
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Worst movie I have seen for a long time
Terrible script, terrible acting and a lot (and I mean A LOT) of plot holes. The concept behind the movie had potential but it was very badly executed. From the moment it started the acting was wooden. As the movie went on they began making ridiculous decisions that real life people would not make and the whole thing felt very forced. This could largely be attributed to the script that did not seem to allow for believable interaction between the couple.Toward the end of the movie it became very unclear what was actually happening. Ultimately, this was a huge waste of time and I would not wish it on my worst enemy. It was that bad I returned it to the shop I had bought it from and didn't even care that I couldn't have a refund because I had already watched it. it's a real shame DVDs don't make good toilet paper.
From bad to worst
Alright, before I get into the review, let me just say this: I have seen tons of horror movies, from the lesser known low budget ones to the extremely well made ones with known actors and I still find a way to enjoy most of them.
With that said, I simply do not understand how someone could give this movie a good rating.
OK, let's start with what's good (or not bad) The mood? Pretty good. The fact that it's another "found footage" movie? I don't even mind, I in fact am still a fan of those found footage ones. The context? Pretty great, the movie being mostly filmed in an old England house. The story? Maybe not original, but still not bad either.
The bad, now. The acting. Terrible. I've seen worse, but it's definitely not good. At some point, it will impact the mood making the story very hard to get into.
The worst. The plot. Oh. My. God. The plot is simply terribly bad. It shouldn't be allowed kind of bad. As other reviewers have already said, there were so many plot holes I stopped counting. From one bad decision to another.
****SPOILER PART - START And when I say bad decisions, I do not mean "why didn't she hide instead of running away. kind of bad decisions. No. I mean "let's ask the boyfriend to go get the camera instead of saving us" kind of bad. It just did not make any sense. Why didn't they just leave? Why did they still had their camera towards the end? Why not work as a team and kill/knock out/capture the guy? Or a policeman that works alone and cannot check the house? Oh, come on. I might not live in England but I'm pretty sure it doesn't make sense over there either. One of the worst part was when they got woken up at night by a noise, they knew it was someone at that point, the guy made a 10 sec check around the house, came back in his room and started arguing with the girlfriend because she discovered that he knew about it, and went back to bed because he didn't want to argue anymore about it. OK... and the stalker/killer situation, they just slept on it? Let's just leave the crazy guy in our house and take care of it tomorrow morning... Wow.
SPOILER PART - END****
Too bad because it had some good ideas, some entertaining parts, but the bad parts were simply so stupid and so bad that it voided the better ones. Therefore, I give this movie a 3 / 10.