Day 16 - House of Darkness and the Long Road to a Small Payoff | 31 Days of Halloween

Justin Long has become one of those actors who seems perfectly at home in horror.

Day 16 of The Bark Knight’s 31 Days of Halloween brought me to House of Darkness, a 2022 horror movies starring Long and Kate Bosworth.

If you’re going into this one expecting anything along the lines of Barbarian, it’s probably worth resetting those expectations immediately.

House of Darkness is a slow burn, and I mean a very slow burn. The surprising thing is that I was engaged for most of the journey, but I’m just not sure that what was waiting at the end justified how long it took to get there.

A Night at the Castle

The setup is simple: Long plays Hap, a man who drives Mina, played by Bosworth, home after meeting her at a bar. Her home happens to be a vast, isolated castle, and what follows is essentially an extended conversation between the two as Hap tries to figure out exactly where the night is heading.

That’s most of the movie.

For roughly an house and a half, you’re watching these two talk to each other while little pieces of information gradually make it clear that something isn’t quite right.

Strangely enough, I was still pretty engaged with it, but I tend to enjoy movies built around extended conversations where you’re trying to piece together what’s actually happening. There’s an uneasiness running beneath the dialgue here that kept me interested, even when very little was happening on screen.

Long and Bosworth also have the chemistry necessary to make that approach work, likely due to them actually being married in real life. Their acting holds up, it looks great, and the castle provides a solid gothic backdrop.

The question is whether all of that waiting is worth the reveal.

Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?

This is where House of Darkness becomes difficult to recommend.

There is a payoff, and it’s actually a decent one. The problem isn’t necessarily what happens. It’s how little time the movie spends on it after asking us to spend nearly 90 minutes getting there.

I actually think this concept might have worked better as a segment of an anthology like Trick r’ Treat. Give me 25 or 30 minutes with these characters, let the tension build, deliver the reveal, and get out. It could even work as a horror episode of a television series like a modern Tales from the Crypt or Creepshow.

As a feature length movie, it’s just asking a lot more from the audience.

That doesn’t mean the preceding conversation is pointless. A lot of the fun comes from watching the dynamic between Hap and Mina shift as the movie progresses. You’re supposed to be questioning her intentions, his assumptions and exactly what kind of situation he’s gotten himself into.

And that is exactly why I stuck with it. The road to the payoff is often interesting. I’m just not convinced the movie ultimately gives us enough at the end of that road to justify how long we spent traveling it.

Justin Long’s Place in Horror

My motivation behind creating a Justin Long Day on the 31 Days of Halloween calendar is because of how much of a home he’s found within the horror genre.

From Jeepers Creepers and Drag Me to Hell to Tusk and Barbarian (and a Weapons cameo), Long has built a surprisingly extensive horror resume. Then there are a few I’ve yet to catch like his Goosebumps reboot, Night Patrol, Spin the Bottle, Levender, or his Creepshow episode. There’s also of course some I have seen but wasn’t in love with like Yoga Hosers or It’s a Wonderful Knife.

House of Darkness is considerably quieter than pretty much all of those, but his ability to play someone who’s charming, awkward, and a bit obnoxious makes him a good fit for what the movie is tryign to do.

There’s also the Kate Bosworth connection. The two have appeared together in multiple horror projects, including Barbarian and Coyotes, making this an interesting little recurring collaboration between them within the genre.

A Difficult Movie to Recommend

With all of that being said, I don’t think House of Darkness is going to work for most people.

That’s not because it’s poorly made, because it isn’t. It’s well shot, well acted, and the mostly engaging. It’s simply a movie that asks you to spend a very long time waiting for a relatively small payoff, and that doesn’t mix well with most people’s expectations for a movie night, especially one within the month of Halloween.

If the idea of watching Justin Long and Kate Bosworth sit in a Gothic castle having a conversation as things grow more and more uncomfortable sounds appealing to you, and you enjoy slowly piecing a reveal together, then you might find something to enjoy here, I mostly did, but taper your expectations and know just what you’re getting yourself into.

But, as I said, I’m just not entirely sure the juice was worth the squeeze.

If you a slow burn horror is what you’re looking for, I can’t recommend The Invitation starring Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard, and Michiel Huisman enough. The juice is absolutely worth the squeeze with this one.

Join me next time as the 31 Days of Halloween keeps keeps on rolling with Day 17, A24 Day.

🎃

Previous Day: Day 15 - Terror Train and Jamie Lee Curtis’ Early Scream Queen Run

Click here to view all 31 Days of Halloween articles.

Enjoyed the blog? Join the newsletter for monthly movie picks and new releases.