I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

For a runtime of only 89 minutes, this slow burn of a haunted house horror movie feels much longer. I’m guessing the reason that writer/director Osgood Perkins takes a long time to set up the plot, and clue us in on the details of the story, is to create a blunt yet tense atmosphere to make up for a lack of effects, gore, or cast. Focusing on two women, one house, and the possibility of ghosts, lends to a threadbare yet evocative ghost story.

Hospice nurse Lily (Wilson) arrives at the secluded home of retired novelist Iris Blum (Prentiss) to care for her as she suffers through the thralls of dementia. Iris repeatedly calls her Polly, who turns out to be a character from one of her books. Over time Lily learns that Polly is actually a ghost, but that comes very late in the film. We don’t see much of Polly, or the circumstances of her death, and much of this film remains vague, leaving you with unanswered questions. This horror film is in reality more of a thought experiment about the lingering effects of a person’s death and where their spirit lies. Perkins, whose father was the late Anthony Perkins, creates an ambitious narrative that takes its time revealing the intricacies of the afterlife with care and patience, a virtue you will need if you want to finish this film.

While I relished the creepiness of the story, and the visual clues, I didn’t truly enjoy this film. The black mold was unsettling, and the link between Iris and Polly was satisfying when it was finally unearthed, but I wasn’t enthralled, or even scared. This was obviously a film with a small budget, as it’s completely shot in one old house. There are minimal, if any, effects, and the voice over was sometimes monotonous. If you enjoy stories that take their time, and maybe tell you something greater about the world at large, you may find this engaging, but for me, I like a little gore. In ghost stories it’s not traditional to see death, but instead showcase people’s psychological unmooring a la The Haunting. Still, for a film that focuses on murder and paranoia, you expect to see the blood and the guts, rather than the soul.