The Deep House(2021)(Review)[Weirdo Wednesday]

YouTube vlogging couple Tina & Ben spend most of their time doing urban exploration of abandoned buildings. They have a few good hits under their belt, but they are craving the next big thing to really elevate them to the next level. When they tour Paris, they are told about a village that was completely submerged at the bottom of a lake. To their surprise, the lake itself has become a popular beach and it seems like a lost endeavor, but then they meet a man named Pierre who claims to know exactly where a perfectly preserved house rests underneath it. They travel a long ways and eventually find the building. What they find inside though is far more menacing than they ever expected.

This film is literally an underwater haunted house movie. Once they leave the beach and submerge, the rest of the film takes place below the surface and is shot with a first-person found footage aesthetic. At first, the building is in great condition and it seems almost too good to be true, but then they find items and ‘other things’ inside that set a very dark, eerie tone. It looks as if the entire house was never abandoned, and once they find some secret rooms, their intuition proves to be right.

For a movie that takes place entirely underwater, I have to marvel at the film-making aspect of this. It must’ve been one hell of a challenge to try and orchestrate a haunted house movie with these conditions. From lighting, to blocking, to performing effective scares, this is a rather ingenious execution.

But, it’s not a completely executed premise. While it has a great set up and an eerie atmosphere, and even a very good first display of what the major threat is, once the main reveal happens and we are fully aware of what’s happening the film kind of begins to lose it’s momentum. It’s an idea that sounds fantastic on paper, but the execution left quite a bit to be desired.

It’s a movie I was super excited for, and while I certainly enjoyed myself, it’s definitely not ‘must see’ material. The images that illustrate the terrors are great, but it’s almost like that’s all that was accounted for and the danger that encircles them just seems almost like an “okay we’re here… how do we do this” kind of thought.

If you enjoy aquatic horror, found footage horror, or generic haunted house films, then I’d say this is worth a watch. It’s definitely fun and is worth seeing just for the filmmaking aspect alone. But I’d be pressed to say this wasn’t what I had hoped for. I wanted it to hit my top 10 list a few weeks ago, and I ultimately couldn’t justify it when compared to all the others. Top 20? Mkay, that’s a possible conversation, but I think another visit would have to justify that.

3/5
“The Deep House” is currently available on VOD platforms.

‘Til Next Time,
Mike Cleopatra