Review: The Deep House

Director: Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury

Screenplay: Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury

Year: 2021

After having seen countless horror movies in my life and seeing the same ideas continue to be recycled with mediocre results, the question of what else can be done in this genre that can be considered novel always lingers. Every so often a movie comes out with fresh ideas, but they don't always perform well. Unfortunately, this is the case of "The Deep House".

A couple of YouTubers who are dedicated to exploring places where paranormal events have been reported receive information about a haunted house submerged under a lake. The couple decides to explore the place and document their findings on their social media. Once they enter the house and discover the dark power it holds, they know that getting out of there will be almost impossible.

A haunted house submerged underwater is not something I have ever heard of before, which makes it interesting at least from a curious point of view. As with the basis of their plot, directors and screenwriters Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, have many good ideas during the development of the film, however, the big problem they run into is that all the interesting moments come from absurd and unrealistic decisions. This makes the sequence of events not feel organic, but rather the whole story feels forced to satisfy ideas or scenes that seemed like good ideas in the head of whoever imagines them.

In practice, for a good idea to succeed, it requires more substance than just the idea. For a horror story to work it is necessary that the creepy images are tied by a common thread that has some realism so that the viewer can identify with the decisions made by the protagonists and that the horror can work. In the case of "The Deep House", the opposite happens. More weight is given to creating frightening images that are not tied to a good plot or realistic decision-making.

At this point, it is important to mention that the fact that this story takes place in a house submerged in a lake is the only innovative thing that it proposes. The rest of the film plays out like a regular haunted house movie and uses the same clichés that we see in these types of movies. While I must admit that some jump scares are effective, most of these are as predictable as its plot.

The trajectory of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury has suffered its ups and downs and “The Deep House” is one of its deepest casualties. What starts out as a groundbreaking idea ends up riddled with the usual haunted house movie clichés, overly predictable situations, and dialogues that seem to be taken from a horror game. Except for highlighting the curiosity generated by the general idea, little else can be said about this film.