Released: February 13, 2015
Director: Trevor Matthews
Screenplay: Nick Gordon
Tagline: "Enjoy the show"
Cast:
Ali Corbin as Kylie Atkins
Slaine as LoverBoy
Adam DiMarco as Ben Stanley
Alyson Bath as Devon
Alice Hunter as Kat
James Thomas as Gary Preston
First Time View?: YES!
After the death of her father, college student Kylie is left strapped for cash, and in an effort to unburden her mother decides to move into GirlHouse, a secluded mansion outfitted with dozens of cameras, Big Brother-style, that streams its residents to an X-rated website. When a deranged fan hacks into the site's code to determine the heavily guarded house's address, Kylie and the rest of the girls find themselves in a fight for their lives.
Now, I know what you're thinking: not an entirely original premise, right? It's just a slasher disguised behind some contemporary internet trappings. But the thing is, that doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be entirely original in premise, because it's great in execution, and I applaud the filmmakers, whose previous forays into horror include the masterful throwback creature feature Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2007) and the underrated creepfest The Shrine (2010), for approaching the slasher subgenre in the way that they did with this movie.
There's a lot working here. The opening sequence is highly disturbing in the boundaries that it pushes to establish the background and the mental framework of our eventual slasher, "LoverBoy," so nicknamed for the handle he uses when accessing the GirlHouse website. He's a great villain, visually drawn in the tradition of Leatherface or Otis while operating like Michael Myers; the whole film is structurally modeled after Halloween (1978), and what makes LoverBoy so sinister is that he, like the Shape before him, stalks his prey before coming in for the kill. Kills which are, it should be mentioned, savage and brutal in a way that I was not expecting. But it's the hunt that's somehow much worse. Because LoverBoy knows this house. He knows these girls. He's watched and obsessed over them, and so when he tracks them down, he turns their safe space, where they felt empowered controlling what they did and who could watch, against them in the worst possible way.
Not exactly the bathtub fantasy *I* have, but...
And yet, for all of that viciousness embodied in LoverBoy, his murder spree, the victims, and the nature of their work, nothing here is exploitative. The camera doesn't linger on the carnal or the carnage, but we always see enough to know exactly what's going on, whether it's some lust-fueled thrusting or some...well, lust-fueled thrusting of a different kind, let's say. There's great use of the camera throughout, in fact, including in the world of the film. We see that, because of these dozens of cameras, LoverBoy feels that he knows these women. That's part of the allure. To watch them at all moments of the day, not just when they're spanking themselves or inviting gentlemen callers over. It's the ultimate voyeuristic fantasy. But living too long in a fantasy can breed obsession, and that's where the tension arises.
And you know, it's not an overly preachy movie either, which always kills a good slice-and-dice film. There's certainly an obvious commentary about the dangers of over-sharing on social media and the societal attitude towards pornography--the film opens with a quote by Ted Bundy in which he cites pornographic content as a motivator for violence against women-- but you're not beat over the head with these observations. None of the characters, including LoverBoy, are cartoonish despite fitting into necessary slasher archetypes. Kylie is the playgirl-next-door who builds her entire act around "the tease," Ben her loving boyfriend supporting her and refusing to pass judgment on her new job, LoverBoy the quiet loner with a sympathetic and traumatic past who eventually snaps, and the other women of the house fill the roles (and the holes? OH SNAP) that the script needs them to fill.
All in all, GirlHouse is a great throwback for slasher enthusiasts. It sticks to genre formulas without being boring, and it throws in enough flavor to make it fresh and fun without being highbrow and pretentious. The score is great, the villain is menacing, fast, smart, and filled with rage, and the script finds ways to up the tension in believable ways (i.e. the police can't find the house when concerned viewers start witnessing the carnage and phone in because the address is kept secret in order to protect the girls from stalkers, thus delaying the arrival of the cavalry). If you're looking for a clever, entertaining slasher that doesn't talk down to you, it might just be time for you to log in.
A very different version of doing it from behind...
GirlHouse
5-Totally Terrifying
4-Crazy Creepy
3-Fairly Frightening
2-Slightly Scary
1-Hardly Horror
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