I remember back in the day reading ‘Beach House’ but it was one of those early-90s pre-teen horror novels by R.L. Stein that seemed steamy and edgy at the time and included twists and turns and someone being drowned while tied under a dock.

Needless to say ‘THE Beach House’ is nothing like the the novel of my youth, and provides me everything I want in a horror film; trippy visuals, pseudo-cosmic/deep sea horror, and of course some cool, GOOEY parasitic body horror.

The long and short of ‘The Beach House’ features a young couple, Emily and Randall, heading to a beach house to help re-connect and repair their relationship where they think they’re all alone. Running into another couple already staying in the house they decide to make the best of a weird situation and take some edibles while sucking down Chardonnay and some fine local oysters.

Little does our quartet know that there is something sinister in the air, and water, that turns what should be a weekend of connection and love, into their worst nightmare.

With influence from ‘The Fog,’ ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ and maybe a sprinkle of ‘The Bay,’ director, Jeffrey Brown, has crafted a tight apocalyptic horror ditty that relies on hallucinatory sensory horror that actually makes you question what you may or may not be seeing.

Sure, you can read into other themes of climate change, with the oceans and Earth fighting back against those that destroy them, turning us into undead zombies filled with deep sea worms and aliens after we eat the food that we purposely poisoned over years and years of pollution, overfishing, and deep sea drilling.

That’s fair, but there is nothing like a human turning into a fluke monster in a basement that gets the blood pumping.

‘The Beach House’ delivers on fun scares, a spooky atmosphere and great authentic performances by the small cast.

‘The Beach House’ will be available to stream on SHUDDER starting July 9th, 2020

• By Matthew Stewart
• In Reviews
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