Directed By: Craig Moss
Written By: Emanuel Isler and Chad Israel
Released: November 4, 2016
Runtime: 90 Min
Watch this on: Netflix
The Charnel House is a 2016 supernatural horror movie that takes place years after a slaughter-house with a sordid past has been closed down. After the building is redesigned into high-end lofts we find that some things refuse to be forgotten.
The Charnel House uses a tried and true haunted house movie formula: creepy building with spooky past; building is now transformed into residence; throw in a spooky kid for good measure and you have all the makings of a competent haunted house tale. While this film doesn’t reinvent the genre it does pack in some tension and a few fairly creepy moments, but overall it really never delivered any big, hair-raising scares. They also spice up the formula by making the building a “fully automated apartment complex of the future!” which does make for a few spooky scenes. This felt like a bigger budget film, which, while doing this series, have been really hard to come by, but it was nice to watch something that felt a little more polished. All polish aside though, the movie pulled a ton of punches given it’s R rating with numerous moments that shy away from the blood and guts. It seemed like the writers were trying a bit too hard to freshen up their take on the genre with their explanation of why things are happening, but it ends up being fairly far-fetched and the ending is pretty predictable.
I’ll recommend this movie if you’re looking for a nice haunted house flick that isn’t too heavy with the scares, if you want to see how scary having a fully automated house of the future can be, and if you never want to operate a garbage disposal without extreme caution ever again.
Grade: 4/10
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