House of Horror

[kenny]

View the Film:
Vimeo- vimeo.com/383013

View the Trailer:
YouTube- www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbW3GyVs1P4

Runtime: 35:57 (31:40 w/o credits)
Initial Filming Date: August 2006 (?)
Filming Wrap Date: October 2007 (?)
Release Date: November 12, 2007
Classification: IV (language throughout and zombie violence)

COMPLETE CAST AND CREW:

CAST
Joseph Payne- Lt. Carlos Payne
Bonnie Qin- Carter
Trent Toda- Sito
Alex Moresco- Sgt. Albert Mason
Oleg Shabrov- Captain Sakolov
Anthony Asher- Dr. Richard Foreman
Sundar Cherukuri- Syler
Jim Pearse- Ford
Sapphire Fein- Willis
Nima Khalily- Miller
Lindsey Alcorn- Davis
Richard Davis- Soldier
Eric T. Jones- Soldier
Kevin Johnson- Soldier
Nikolay Shurygin- Soldier
Andrew Figueroa- Base Soldier on Radio

ZOMBIES
A Person
Kristen Korz
Lindsey Alcorn
Anna Shabrov
Erika
Sapphire Fein
Jim Pearse
Oleg Shabrov
Alex Moresco
Cris Torres
Kirsten
Danilee Natsumi
Anthony Asher
Sean Carpenter
Eric T. Jones
Kevin Johnson

CREW
Fight Choreography- Joseph Payne
Location Scout- Joseph Payne
Casting- Joseph Payne
Weapons- Joseph Payne
Weapons- Alex Moresco
Weapons- Casey Sakime
Make-Up- Lindsey Alcorn
Make-Up- Kristen Korz
Make-Up- Danilee Natsumi
Make-Up- Bonnie Qin
Make-Up- Eric T. Jones
Editor- Joseph Payne
Camera- Neta Assaf
Camera- Joseph Payne
Camera- Casey Sakima
Camera- Alex Moresco
Camera- Sundar Cherukuri
Camera- Oleg Shabrov
Camera- Anna Shabrov
Camera- Danilee Natsumi
Camera- Sapphire Fein
Camera- Aniket Das
Camera- Sean Carpenter
Writer- Joseph Payne
Director- Joseph Payne

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (16:9 master), 2.40:1 (most letterboxed scenes)

* * *

Upon viewing, I'm suddenly afraid that I'm becoming a film snob.

It feels like Uwe Boll's Resident Evil or something. Plot is similar, and so is character development and action. Plenty of action, barely any/ no character development. And some of the scenes will drag on a bit. Let me qualify my statements by saying that House of Horror is by no means bad. What it is is average. Ordinary. Run of the mill. A competent zombie shooting romp, it does it's best to make the characters sound mature but ultimately overuses profanity to the point where we barely remember the word "f#$!" is obscene (but then again, it's not nearly as frequent as films like "The Departed"). The film shows plenty of production value, the props are blowing ours away in many respects, some of the acting was pretty good but in most areas lacking, etc.


Someday, all of us (DMI included) are going to look back on our films like these and laugh. And laugh. And laugh.
After all, Eric and I already have been making fun of our older offerings such as Fight Movie 3.
I'd say around 2-2.5 out of four. Perhaps my tastes are getting snobbish, because I remember when I gave Battle Zone a 3 out of four. Then again, the plot was more pronounced in that film (despite it's cheesy revenge story rootings, it was actually quite a fun film to watch.)

[Eric T. Jones]

It's more fun and substantially lower in quality than "Battle Zone", even greater than the silliness of "CS: Urban Warfare". I don't think it'll take long for you to look at this and laugh, but although the effort was definitely there, the film itself is just plain bad. Fortunately, it's got a lot of charm to it, with the appeal of the 50's B-movies- "House of Horror" never ceases to entertain, especially during its extremely loud gunfight scenes and awful special effects + fight choroeography. The inconsistent letterboxing and gun-flashes did almost give me a headache, but I did nearly bust a gut watching this film; it's far more enjoyable than "Fight Movie 3", and the excessive, gratuitous profanity is part of the charm, especially when coming from Sapphire.

Filmmaking quality, it barely passes *, but for entertainment value it gets ***1/2 from me, and as promised, I'm gonna plug the crap outta this. Besides, it's 31 minutes of fun on the internet.

[panama]

I'm finding these reviews very difficult to understand. You guys are THE ONLY people who have even hinted at Battle Zone being better than House of Horror. Everyone in JP Films has said that while there were areas to be worked on, it is a great film that is better than everything else we have done. I also decided to get rid of letterboxing all together now that I've found a way to do so with my software (it used to be automatic ><). I am going to say that all of our future movies will be a lot better than everything that came before it. P.S. have yous started laughing at LFM yet? I'm already laughing at everything we made before CS: Urban Warfare.

[Eric T. Jones]

Ever since its release, I've found LFM laughable; HoH is on just about the same level, but I enjoyed it a lot more.

[Eric T. Jones]

Completed first remastering pass. Some of the muddier shots were pulled down successfully to full color. Due to the upload errors in regards to letterboxing the original footage, the film has always had multiple aspect ratios, most of the time not in the originally-shot 1.78:1 format once the proportions were corrected (the "stretched" shots).

Like I did with the QuickTime file last summer, I'm going to create a 2.40:1 version to go alongside (but definitely not to replace) the original VAR (variable aspect ratio) version. Will have to check the new color-timing with Joseph for approval.

Video quality-wise, the original DV footage would have obviously been preferable, but the rendered DVD had great resolution (mostly thanks to the stretched shots which retained the original sharpness; the letterboxed shots turn up a little blurry). It was definitely better than the DVD used for the missing scenes of "Code of 'Con'duct".

[this is, of course, best enjoyed in a darkened room with a properly-calibrated monitor. Shouldn't be problem on computers, but find your nearest THX-certified DVD and adjust your TV set accordingly]

My views on the film are definitely different from the first time I saw it; there's a heaping load of ambition and entertainment value I've yet to reach with my own filmmaking, and while there are definitely reservations about line memorization and realism in the make-up, I make no joke when I say that this is the standard of what I have to surpass when I make my feature "toby and jamie", especially the massive amounts of trademark JP Films stage business in the background which turn me green with envy.