Starring: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, John Philbin, Dustin Stevens, Monique Parent

Directed: Kris Hulbert, and Randy Kent

Horror anthologies are a tough cookies. A lot of times they are  hampered by inconsistent stories and uneven performances.   What makes The Perfect House a really good horror film is it avoids most of these pitfalls, and yes not all the moments in this movie are great but when this movie is firing on all cylinders it is truly scary and full of tension.

The Perfect House opens with a normal family going to their neighbors house for dinner. Horror film fans will no doubt be excited to recognize the mom and dad, Felissa Rose(Sleepaway Camp) and John Philbin(Return of the Living Dead). The host (Dustin Stevens) mentions if the dad brought back his weed wacker and the father foolishly says he threw it out…

Interestingly this is not the wrap around story for the anthology. Most anthologies make the first story you see the over arching story but The Perfect House makes the bold choice of giving you a taste of the last story. The cliffhanger does make you long to see the conclusion of that story, but like the movie we are going to comeback to this terror tale last.

We next see a young couple on their way to “the house” because it is now for sale, and the price is almost too good to be true(of course it’s too good to be true). The couple is greeted by a very sexy real estate agent(Monique Parent).  She will do anything to sell this house and I mean anything. This is the wrap around story and it has a really surreal feel to it. The actors are all pretty good in this story and you watch it feeling a little uncomfortable. The real estate agent next asks them if they want to see the basement, and they reluctantly follow her downstairs…

The film next goes into the history of the house starting with a family in the 1960’s hiding in the basement from a violent storm. The look of the film again changes to fit the era and type of story it now is telling. Of all the stories in the movie I think this is the weakest. Now, by saying it’s the weakest in the film is not a total dis, because the rest of the movie is so strong. But it is bogged down by some uneven acting which hurts the overall suspense because the lines are delivered a little clunky. I won’t spoil the ending because I do think the story redeems itself in a great way and it is shot so well that it saves the acting.

The next segment is the best in the movie. After being away from movies for 20 years Jonathan Tiersten is absolutely terrifying as a serial killer named John Doesy. In the story Doesy kidnaps people and locks them in cages in his basement. He also has kept a girl, who he calls his “muse” locked down there as well. His muse has been there for 5 years and breaks the news to the new captives that they will die on Thursday and Doesy will rape her on Friday. This is truly unsettling stuff and Mr. Tiersten plays it so calm that he is the most charming killer since Hannibal Lector. I think that’s what makes this story so scary, is Doesy is a good looking, normal looking guy, kinda like Norman Bates or Ted Bundy.  He does some horrible things to some poor sap(see above photo) and his taunting is even more unsettling. Again I am not going to spoil what happens but if you want to see how much of an evil bastard Doesy is, wait until you watch the scene with a mother looking for her lost daughter(hint: She’s in the basement).

Finally we are back to the dinner party and holy cow, I will not tell you what happens in this terrifying chapter, but no one is safe. The dinner host has placed the family in the basement and he does some truly horrible stuff to the family. There is a fight to the death between the two young brothers(this film does not pull any punches, yes it is a true fight to the death). This story never lets you relax and it will make you think twice about accepting a dinner invitation from a neighbor.

I love horror movies. And I have so much respect for a true independent movie that tries something new. This movie is hands down better then a lot of the horror movies that are released in theaters. The Perfect House takes chances in it’s storytelling and it makes it a fresh and exciting for horror fans. If you are a fan of horror you owe it to yourself to see this movie. I hope that the filmmakers will consider making a feature length movie focusing on John Doesy, I would love to see his twisted story.

You can watch The Perfect House by purchasing it on iTunes, or you can visit    http://www.tphperfecthouse.com/ to watch it on demand.

Contest! I have 6 copies of The Perfect House and I am giving them to the listeners of Reel Nerds Podcast and visitors to our site! All you need to do is leave a comment to this article and I will pick 6 random winners! It’s so easy! Please leave your comment by midnight MST on March 15th 2013 and we will notify the winners the next day!

Big thanks to Jonathan Tiersten for sitting down with us and introducing us to The Perfect House, and to Kris Hulbert for the DVD’s I can’t wait to see what you guys do next 🙂