Movie Review: Playhouse (2020)

November 6, 2020

Written by DanXIII

Daniel XIII; the result of an arcane ritual involving a King Diamond album, a box of Count Chocula, and a copy of Swank magazine, is a screenwriter, director, producer, actor, artist, and reviewer of fright flicks…Who hates ya baby?

A horror writin’ dude named Jack (William Holstead) ignores all common sense and moves into ye olde secluded Scottish castle with his daughter Bee (Grace Courtney) in tow. The reason for the new digs? Why he wants to stage some insanely scopey immersive play within that arcane abode as one does.

Of course that creepy castle is home to a supernatural presence that wants nothing more than to fuck up our heroes’ lives six ways to Sunday

Not a bad set-up for a ghost-centric yarn, eh cats n’ creeps? Written and directed by Fionn and Toby Watts, Playhouse has a lot going for it in terms of mythology and world building, but it does have some stumbling blocks along it’s joltin’ journey.

While the castle setting is tops, and the acting pretty damn solid, there are a bit too many side stories and characters that take the focus away from Jack and Bee’s terror tale… and dammit, the other characters’ story (which does tie into the castle’s history) is strong enough that it could have easily been its own thing… but as presented here it kind of throws the narrative onto uneven ground.

Regardless, at the end of the day Playhouse has a great ambience and mounting tension, it just over-extends itself a tad, but it still well worth a wicked watch.

 

 

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