2009 - Directed by Ti West
Starring Jocelin Donahue, Greta Gerwig, Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov

 This film has been generating a lot of buzz among the horror community, as the late 70’s/early 80’s look and stylistic slow burn pacing has grabbed the attention of a lot of people so I was happy to grab it on my DVR when it aired the week of Halloween on one of our HD channels.  What I wasn’t prepared for was how long it would actually take me to sit down and watch the film, or to write a review for it, so unfortunately this is much less than timely, but I can happily say that it was a film well worth seeking out.

 I wasn’t much of a fan of Ti West’s film The Roost (though this film makes me want to possibly give that one another day in court), but the trailer alone had me sold on this one.

 We meet Samantha (Donahue) as she tours a house with her potential new landlord (played by horror alum Dee Wallace), who is willing to give her a break on the deposits, a move that, while a kindly gesture, still leaves poor college student Sam in a bind financially.  A ‘baby-sitter wanted’ sign in the quad catches her eye, and after calling the number she gets an immediate callback at the payphone, making plans to meet with the potential employer at a neutral location, as he claims to not know his way around the campus.

 The guy stands her up entirely, frustrating Samantha, so she meets with her friend Megan (Gerwig) for lunch, who insists that everything will work out fine, which Sam tries to accept, but once she’s alone, she begins to stress again.  Her useless roommate wakes up long enough to tell her that someone had called for her while she was out, she connects with the guy again, he desperately offers her $100 for her time that evening, since it’s all very last minute.  Megan agrees to drive her to the house, noting how remote it is because she had to consult a map to even find the road they’re looking for; she also admits to stacking the deck in Sam’s favor by yanking down the other signs the guy had placed around campus. In a bit of foreshadowing, Megan is annoyed by the frequent news of an impending lunar eclipse that keeps interrupting the music on the radio, something that will come up again over the course of the evening.

 They find the house and Sam meets Mr. Ulman (Noonan) who is slightly unsettling, but seems harmless enough.  He invites her in and finally lays his cards on the table that the job isn’t meant to be her babysitting a child, but rather his wife’s (Woronov) mother, who’s in an upstairs bedroom.  She balks at this at first, but once he offers her $300 for the night, she grows bolder and forces him up to $400.  Megan is rather unhappy with this situation, as her friend was drawn here under false pretenses, the people seem a little weird, etc., but Sam finally gets her to agree to leave her to the job, returning to pick her up at 12:30 that evening, after the Ulmans have had time to do whatever they have planned for their special night out.

Megan has car trouble on the drive home, but she runs into another helpful soul out wandering the lonely back roads, which is always a good sign in a horror film, right? Right?

Samantha is left alone with Mother in the rambling old Victorian house, but since Mother is upstairs in her room and never makes a peep, Sam is left to wander around the house, doing all the typical babysitter activities: looking at knick-knacks, turning on the television and watching some tube briefly; generally poking around. She orders in food from a pizza man who sounds just a little too creepily happy to hear from her, the whole scenario is very unnerving as she bumps around this big empty house, most of which is lit by little more than an occasional lamp.

 My only real quibble about this portion of the film is the sheer irresponsibility of her actions as she pops on some headphones (ah, Walkmans!) and bops around the house, studiously ignoring any sounds her elderly charge might possibly make by drowning it out with music!  I’m glad she wasn’t dealing with an infant or something, the child could roll down the stairs to its death before she ever heard anything.

 Sam finally runs across a certain photo in her explorations that gives her a chilling clue that things may not be as they seem, then the film begins to steamroll towards the final half hour of craziness.

 The film has a delightfully straightforward approach to the conventions of the genre, all of which work in spades.  It slowly unfurls to build a creepy atmosphere that puts you on edge, because you just know something bad is lurking around the corner as Sam strolls casually through the old creepy house as if nothing is even slightly amiss, it’s the type of movie that makes you want to yell at the screen.

 From the freeze frame titles to the gloriously feathered hairstyles and high-waisted jeans, this film is a fun throwback to an era most fans hold up as a high water mark for the genre, and West pays great homage to the films of days gone by.  I would possibly rate it a little higher than I have, except there was still a part of me that wanted this to pick up the pace in a few spots, if only to allow for creepier old house fun.  Samantha wandering the college campus, dealing with her roommate, missing Ulman the first time around; these bits felt as though they could have been shorthanded to get us into the spookiness sooner, but perhaps that’s my modern horror fan sensibility judging the pacing?

 I really enjoyed this film a lot, it’s well worth tracking down if you have the chance.  You will feel as though you’ve popped in a well-worn VHS cassette from that Mom & Pop video store that everyone used to frequent back in the day.

 Give it a look.

 7/10