House of Screaming Glass review
A woman inherits a schoolhouse full of secrets and witchcraft.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
House of Screaming Glass
Directed by David R. Williams
Written by Costanza Bongiorni, Tom Jolliffe and David R. Williams
Starring Lani Call
House of Screaming Glass Review
Everyone remembers the big moments in The Shining. The woman in the bathtub. Jack’s frozen face. “Here’s Johnny”. Scatman Crothers meeting the axe. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. An elevator full of blood. The twins. Kubrick’s landmark horror movie is a go to on many people’s list of favorites…and it isn’t really because of these moments. The greatest strength that Kubrick infuses into The Shining is the hypnotic pace that he builds the foundation of the movie on. It allows those moments to stand out like the stingers in a nightmare that you can’t wake up from.
House of Screaming Glass substitutes a hotel for a schoolhouse. It keeps the hypnotic pacing. Consider Elizabeth’s (Lani Call) journey through House of Screaming Glass like a mix between Danny and Jack Torrance in The Shining. At first, an innocence walking through a place of unknown evil. Then, a more active participant in what the darker corners of the schoolhouse have to offer. Unlike the 1980 classic, this is almost completely a one person show. Call is stranded on screen. Alone always. Even, perhaps, when she doesn’t appear to be.
With no one to talk to…Elizabeth’s thoughts can often be heard as narration. An elegant solution to the problem that works perfectly with the style and tone that House of Screaming Glass is built upon. We’ve referred to it as “purposeful pacing” before and that feels like it fits here as well.
Legacy
Another concept we’ve discussed before is “inheritance horror”. House of Screaming Glass definitely falls into this category. Inheritance horror includes movies where a character inherits a building without understanding the cost that comes with the deed. It’s a strangely popular subgenre of late. Baghead, The Tank and Unwelcome are just a few recent examples. Elizabeth inherits a schoolhouse from her grandmother following the death of her mother. She never met her grandmother…but her time in the schoolhouse will bring them closer than she could have ever imagined.
Grandma, it turns out, was a witch. Or, at least, dabbled in the dark arts. You can sense something isn’t right with the property right away. If you didn’t pick up on it for some reason…it doesn’t take long for it to become extremely clear. An early standout sequence in House of Screaming Glass sets that tone incredibly well. It involves watching Elizabeth play the piano for an extended period. She has her back to an open door in the should be deserted location. Tension ramps up as a figure of some kind appears behind her…inching slowly at a nearly imperceptibly slow rate. It’s an extremely effective sequence that sets House of Screaming Glass in motion.
One Pill Makes You Larger
From there, Elizabeth discovers her grandmother’s connection to the dark arts. She dabbles…drinks potions…and spends time running across all manner of strangeness inside the schoolhouse. As with The Shining…a patient delivery of moments making them more memorable. This is a story about isolation and deterioration. About nightmares and reality. Inheritance and incantation. House of Screaming Glass is a somber, and effective, slow match towards an inevitable fate.
Anchoring us through the madness is Lani Call’s performance. No camera movement or trick can sell the haze of surrealism that House of Screaming Glass presents better than Call’s otherworldly presence. A mostly silent role (narration aside), Call’s reaction to (or lack thereof) the unknown fuels the picture. You understand her fears, obsessions, desires…all without her uttering a syllable.
This review opened by discussing The Shining. Another film that comes to mind is Osgood Perkins’ I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. That was another slow burn horror film that feels like it’s from another era (or another world). It also eschews expectations and simple answers. House of Screaming Glass is in no rush to explain itself either. It doesn’t exist as a simple three act story with a hero overcoming their obstacle. It exists to be felt. To be taken as an unexplainable experience. A worthwhile one at that.
Scare Value
Director David R. Williams has a setting, a camera, and an actor. What he gets out of it might vary depending on the who is watching. A surreal experience steeped in dark choices and darker payoffs. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. If you meet its rhythm, however…you may find yourself seduced by the darkness.
3/5
House of Screaming Glass Link
Pre-order on DVD from Amazon
