I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

Movie Name: I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House
Year of Release: 2016
Director: Oz Perkins
Starring: Ruth Wilson, Paula Prentiss, Bob Balaban, Lucy Boynton, Brad Milne, Daniel Chichagov
Genre: Drama, Horror
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 3
Watch it on Neflix

Synopsis and Review

"I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House" is writer/director Oz Perkins (or Osgood Perkins) sophomore directorial endeavor. It follows his well received "The Blackcoat's Daughter". The film follows the story of Lily Saylor, a nurse whom we first encounter on an assignment involving the care of an author with dementia, Iris Blum. The job is arranged by the author's estate, Waxcap, who mentions to Lily he will visit on occasion to check on how everything is going. Other than that, it will be just the two of them. Lily starts noticing some odd occurrences in the house, such as the telephone being yanked from her hands unexpectedly, and a dark spot of mold that appears on the wall and that steadily grows as the months pass by. Iris addresses Lily as Polly, whom Lily comes to find out, is the name of a character on Iris' books, but also the name of a woman who lived in the house in the early 19th century, and turns out was murdered by her husband. Lily suspects that Iris' book documents the murder that happened in the house. And she also suspects there's something else in the house, beyond just herself and Iris.

"I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House" is a film that lives from the quiet and unsettling environment Oz Perkins builds throughout the duration of the narrative. It's a discrete film that resists the temptation of going with broad horror tropes, preferring instead to present subtle hints that something not entirely normal may be taking place. And while avoiding tropes and clichés is always a commendable aspect to any feature film, it also doesn't take away the fact that for all its good intentions, these characters have very little dimension or substance to them. Neither Lily, Iris, or for that matter Polly, are given much in terms of arc or backdrop, and whatever is indeed provided about them is very limited. What we're left with is what some people would call a slow burner, which in fact is just a synonym for a story that is ultimately undercooked, and that runs out of steam when all you have to live from is that unsettling environment that is created. For all the whispers, camera angles, and suggestions of menace that there can possibly be, without characters to properly anchor this narrative to some motivation or semblance of journey, there really isn't much left to watch or even admire. The cast tries their best with the material they have, with Ruth Wilson and Bob Balaban competently bringing whatever they can of these characters to life. The production team is also rather unremarkable. It's a film that for all its good intentions, is ultimately forgettable.