The Deep House
released 2021
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“The Deep House” is a supernatural, horror, underwater, action, thriller film in French and English. It was produced by Maxime Cottray, Frederic Foire, David Giordano, Jean-Charles Levy, Clement Miserez, Eric Tavitian, Matthieu Warter, Natan Bogin, Cloe Garbay, Louis Leterrier and Bastien Sirodot. It was directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury who also wrote the screenplay with Rachel Parker and Julien David. It stars Camille Rowe, James Jagger, Eric Savin, Alexis Servaes, Anne Claessens, Carolina Massey, Marie Caffier and Marie Bernard.

The Deep House IMDb webpage

“The House Deep” is the simple tale of a young couple of influencers on their latest adventure. Or at least that’s how things seem in the beginning. They are adventurers who go places most of us do not have the time to find and visit. They are Youtube influencers with a fan base that permits them their lifestyle and nice equipment. Their specialty is visiting haunted, abandoned houses where the latest quest is visiting an estate under water in the south of France. That is, they visit a mysterious place under the water of a lake. Tina, played by Camille Rowe, is starting to grow tired of their adventurous lifestyle and has misgivings about their latest quest. Her boyfriend Ben, played by James Jagger, is driven and sweeps all trepidations aside. He is adventurous to the point of folly but we the viewer do not know that in the beginning. What they discover under the water is a mind blowing terror they were not ready for. Neither were we the viewer ready for what awaits theme. This story mixes strange occult rituals within a bizarre family that has a very bizarre backstory, all in a strangely well preserved house on an estate under the water. So, this is basically the story of an underwater, haunted house. What an original idea.

I liked this film for its simplicity and original story. It is a different kind of ghost story that sends chills up your spine. all the same It bothered me also to watch Tina and Ben break one diving safety protocol after another, all to get that viral video, those extra views and those extra subscribers. But recklessness is a part of many horror films. That’s what makes us cringe and yell at the screen. It’s an element of how the people in a horror story are often part of the problem or at least contribute to bad things through stupidity. I do think that the story would have been enhanced with more characters on the expedition. Maybe they creators of the film just didn’t have the funds. In any case this was a good idea and great effort that will probably have some kind of a higher budget remake in the future.

One aspect that should have made the couple pause is the fact that everything was so well preserved in the submerged house. That is beyond strange. When I first started diving we went to a place that boasted a submerged car. The car was a VW beetle with many urban legends as how it got so deep under the ocean and so far away from the road. Anywho, when we reached the car to our disappointment we found only a mound of kelp with all kind of critters that made it their home. For experienced divers to see such a well preserved, submerged estate they should have at least asked questions. They should have wondered if it was a well upkept, tourist attraction, kind of like a haunted house tour.

The driver named Pierre, played by Eric Savin, who drove them to the location knew more than he let on and that just adds to the feeling that something bad is about to happen. Pierre and his suspicious behavior is really the best foreshadowing of horrible things to come. Characters like that are another element in horror films that are just brilliant. We, the audience, wonder what he knows and why he won’t share in detail his knowledge of the situation.

So, check out “The Deep House” because it’s an original story worth the watch.

John Ink2Quill

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