Has there not been enough Halloween in your 2016? Netflix is looking to change that with the acquisition of the film I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House.
Starring Ruth Wilson, Paula Prentiss, and Bob Balaban, this American-Canadian horror film debuted at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. The plot follows Lily, a live in nurse hired to take care of reclusive horror author Iris Bloom. However, something sinister lives in the house with them, and Lily becomes convinced that a murder occurred in the house, one Bloom might have perpetrated in her younger days. Written and directed by relative newcomer Oz Perkins, the film only received a 50% Rotten Tomatoes rating after its festival debut (though there’s only eight reviews counted so far).
The trailer’s narration is soft but incredibly disturbing as Lily not only foretells her future death but also her fatal flaw, that she can’t see what’s supposedly right in front of her. The whole trailer has this dark, gothic tone, trapped in this orange-white-grey aesthetic with a house that is constantly in shadow. It looks like the film takes place in the 1960s, adding a level of both nostalgia haze and a separated, isolated feeling. It’s looking like it might be style over substance but man, what a style. It will definitely add some much needed diversity to Netflix’s horror section, which (save for a few hidden gems and classic fare) is filled with boring jump-scare schlock.
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House will premiere on Netflix on October 28th, just in time to make you jump every time trick or treaters come to call.
