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Das schaurige Haus
The Creepy House
Austria 2020
produced by Thomas Hroch, Gerald Podgornig, Gudula von Eysmondt (executive) for Mona Film, Naked Eye, ORF
directed by Daniel Prochaska
starring Leon Orlandianyi, Marii Weichsler, Lars Bitterlich, Benno Rosskopf, Michael Pink, Julia Koschitz, Inge Maux, Christina Cervenka
screenplay by Marcel Kawentel, Timo Lombeck, based on the novel by Martina Wildner, music by Karwan Marouf
review by Mike Haberfelner
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16 year old Hendrik (Leon Orlandianyi) feels rather uprooted when his
mother (Julia Koschitz) moves him and his little brother Eddi (Benno
Rosskopf) from a big German city to a small mountain village in Carinthia,
Austria. And of course, that the house they move in is not only a bit run
down but also spooky doesn't help much either, nor that before long Eddi
starts to behave odd, which includes sleepwalking and drawing onto the
walls of Hendrik's bedroom - something that turns out to be a message in
Slovenian, a second language in some parts of Carinthia, but not something
Hendrik or Eddi at all speak. Fortunately, Hendrik has made the
acquaintance of nerdy Fritz (Lars Bitterlich), who immediately connects
the message to the story of two kids who were allegedly poisoned by their
mother 40 years ago in the very house Hendrik and family are living in
now. Now Fritz doesn't speak Slovenian, but Ida (Marii Weichsler), a
lovely local girl of roughly Hendrik's age does, and eventually the three
of them figure Eddi must be possessed by one of the boys poisoned back
when, and he claims his mother is innocent. With little else to do, the
three start to investigate, but first hit a dead end when they break into
Hendrik's neighbour's (Inge Maux) place, suspecting her for the simple
fact that she was once the housekeeper for the poisoned children and their
mum. Eventually, the other one of the dead boys possesses Hendrik, but
that also amounts to little, and it's only by accident that Hendrik finds
a woman at the boys' grave, with everything pointing to her to be the
culprit. He follows her home, finds evidence for her guilt, and pretty
much has her ready to confess, until her son (Michael Pink), the sleazy
local realtor comes home, and he literally would do anything to save his
mother, however guilty she may be, including chasing Hendrik and Ida - who
has come to his assistance - through the woods and into a cave to their
almost certain deaths, and now it's up to Fritz to save them. But Fritz is
quite simply not the most practical kind of guys ... Now The
Creepy House is a family horror movie with all the expected
coming-of-age undercurrents, so you mustn't expect the film to go full on
in regards to shocks and gruesomeness, nor was this ever deemed to be the
re-invention of the horror genre as a whole. But as family horrors go,
this one's actually pretty cool, mainly because it never talks down to its
younger audience or tries too hard to pander to their assumed tastes but
instead just tells a well-structured story in an engaging way, with an eye
on tension and suspense, but also on humour, while presenting the audience
with relatable and believable characters embodied by a very solid cast. So
whether or not family horrors are even your thing, this is a very
entertaining film.
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