THE BEACH HOUSE: A Chilling Concept Lacking in Focus
The Beach House starts as any respectable horror film should. A young couple arrives at a secluded getaway, things get off to a strange start, and then the terror begins. The Beach House, with its contagion plot and body horror, has all the makings of a home run but the execution leaves viewers checking their watch and wondering what’s taking so long.
When Emily and Randall, the young couple, escape to Randall’s family beach house for a romantic weekend, they are surprised to learn that they are not alone. An older couple, Mitch and Jane, are friends of the family and had asked to use the house on that weekend as well. The group forms an unexpected bond and all signs are pointing to a great beach weekend…until things take a turn. Strange environmental phenomena destroy the peaceful getaway and a contagion, unlike anything they’ve ever known, breaks out. Emily must make sense of it all before it is too late.
The Beach House stars Liana Liberato, Noah Le Gros, Jake Weber, and Maryanne Nagel and is directed by Jeffrey A. Brown. The film has made rounds at genre fests like the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival and Chattanooga Film Festival, where it has received a friendly reception from audiences. The Beach House has been a highly anticipated addition to Shudder’s slate of summer horror flicks.
Slow Burn or Slog?
As I mentioned at the outset, the pacing is a real issue with The Beach House. A slow-burning horror film can be a vehicle for delicious tension, but The Beach House comes up short in that department. The film has a modest run time of just under an hour and a half, but the first 50 minutes are spent on uninteresting buildup and vague hints at what’s to come. There’s no sense of dread, there’s no discernible direction, and every moment wasted on awkward conversations makes the viewer wish that whatever monster or killer would just show up and end it all already.
What’s worse is that the cast overwhelmingly lacks charisma. The performances are frustratingly mediocre, which is almost a greater sin than just being bad in a film that drags on as much as The Beach House does. Any redeeming qualities of the characters or the actors that are portraying them are suffocated by the tormenting amount of time the viewer is forced to spend with them.
The Ache of Wasted Potential
This harsh critique of The Beach House comes from a place of genuine frustration – specifically, frustration with wasted potential. The parasitic, contagion element of The Beach House is an exciting premise. The Beach House leans into beautiful and almost alien visuals, and visceral body horror to carry off the scares. Once the film actually picks up and gets going, what’s there is great. It’s simply too much build up and not enough time spent on that sweet, sweet payoff.
The Beach House, unfortunately, is a really cool film that was terribly executed. Everything that I needed more of like horror, lore, and action, I got less of. Everything that I needed less of, like dinner conversations and introductions, I got in abundance. If expectations are low enough and you can stay awake long enough to make it to the third act, then it just might be worth it to see some delightfully gross horror.
What is your favorite horror film set in the summer? Let us know in the comments!
The Beach House premieres on Shudder on July 9, 2020.
Watch The Beach House
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