The Beach House, a Shudder original film that premieres on Thursday, July 9th, follows Emily and Randall, a couple maneuvering through the chaotic obstacles of a first-year college relationship by taking a much-needed trip to Randall’s family beach house during the off season. Thinking they have the place alone, they quickly realize an older couple from Randall’s childhood is also taking a vacation at the same time. After drinks, oysters, and edibles together, the four are already in a wild state of mind when they notice bioluminescent bacteria covering the beach and flooding the air with algal spores. The crazy gets crazier when characters start to feel the effects of the spores, which include hallucinations, vomiting goop, and eventually turning into weird slimy mollusk monsters.
Right away, I was excited to watch this with the representation of the East Coast beaches, partly because I’m a homer and partly because there is just something about them that out-creep the west coast. The environmental shots are spot on for what a small beach town looks like in the off season. Businesses shut down, people are scarce, and all you can hear are the sounds of the waves. Kudos to newcomer director Jeffrey A. Brown for delivering a creepy atmosphere I can relate to.
Liana Liberato and Noah Le Gros (Emily and Randall) do a serviceable job. Liberato is the more experienced actor, and you can tell. Though I wouldn’t call either of their performances bad, some of the dialogue feels forced, and in turn the performances feel forced. This commonly shows up in the early works of most directors and writers, so I absolutely give it a pass. Plus, it isn’t long before the calm-talking Jake Weber (2004 Dawn of the Dead, 13 Reasons Why) and veteran Maryanne Nagel join the show. From this point, the chemistry kicks into gear, and the younger actors are well-guided by the experienced ones. Good call on the casting.
The story itself brought back some vibes from Barry Levinson’s found footage-style film The Bay (2012) about an ecological outbreak originating in the waters and infecting those that ingest it. Although some extremely similar themes, The Beach House didn’t feel like a rip-off, and delivered a more cinematic take, which I craved in The Bay. The film also checked off some other horror musts for me, by straying mostly away from CG effects and focusing more on minimal practical effects, with lots of slime and goops. It’s a solid blend of body horror and slimy props. There’s a scene involving stepping on what looked like mutated Portuguese Man O’ War jellyfish that I particularly liked and squirmed to.
Some of the camera effects felt a little dated, like a hazy effect when someone’s high or a spinning effect when someone’s dizzy. Once again though, with limited budget a new director, I’ve come to overlook these things over the years. The problem that films run into when the villain is something invisible like a virus or internal parasite, is that the director must use its effects on the characters as the way to scare you. Unfortunately, flashing colors and repeating “it smells so bad” doesn’t always get the job done.
If I had to really ding the film for anything, it would be the ending. The film is already a slow burn in its 1:27 run time, which I have no problem with. Some of my favorite horror movies are slow burns, but you must give me something to reward my time and patience. Unfortunately, I felt like the movie fizzled as it concluded and didn’t give me the payoff I wanted or expected. It towed the fine line of making me want more, which can be a good thing, but please deliver it to me in the movie.
Overall, I was pleased with The Beach House. I loved the location and environmental shots, the acting was mostly serviceable and borderline good, the effects were done well, and the story was solid. I don’t think anything about it truly blew me away but expecting that out of the first film of a director is a bit unrealistic. I say give it a watch!
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