House IV

Roger Cobb has inherited a house from his deceased father. His step-brother, Burke, wants to sell the house and land to big business and make some money while Roger holds to a promise he made to his father to never sell the house. Unfortunately, he passes away from an auto accident that also handicaps his daughter, Laurel, and traumatizes his wife, Kelly, as they were also in the car.

Kelly decides to honor her husband’s promise to his father and moves into the house. Her brother-in-law begins to pressure her to sell right away, but she denies him. But, the longer she stays in the house, the more strange things that begin to happen to her. Is this guilt from Roger’s death or something sinister in the house? With the help of a family friend who knows the history of the house, Kelly tries to save the house, fix her own trauma, and take care of her daughter.

House IV returns to the campy comedy mixed with horror from the first two films that House III strayed away from. Production values have been lowered, and the story is both cliche and unnecessarily complicated. However, William Katt does return as Roger. Is he the same Roger from the first film? I don’t know, nor will you.

Let’s start with that and get it out of the way. Yes, William Katt (House, Man From Earth) plays Roger Cobb, but in House IV, he is married to Kelly Cobb and has a teenage daughter. In the original House, he was married and then divorced from Sandy Sinclair and had a young son. Maybe he never reconciled with her. Maybe his son lives with her now. But, if the film’s timeline takes place in the same timeframe as the films’ releases, then there are six years between the conclusion of the first movie and this film. So in the movie, only 6 years have passed, but Roger has remarried and had a daughter who is 12 years old. So, my headcanon is that this is an alternate timeline with this Roger Cobb.

Getting past the continuity issues with this movie, the film really focuses on Roger’s wife Kelly (Terri Treas; The Terror Within, The Nest). I love the concept of this film if not the execution. You have the protagonist dealing not just with a haunted house, but with being a recently widowed, now single mother with a newly handicapped daughter. On top of that, Kelly blames herself for her husband’s death. It is no wonder that she spends most of the film wondering if she is really seeing ghosts or if she is just losing her mind. Did I forget to mention that she is also dealing with her brother-in-law Burke (Scott Burkholder; My Fellow Americans, Crimson Tide)trying to get her out of the house so he can finish selling it to a corporation for toxic waste dumping? Seems like the writers threw everything they could at the character to have her persevere and show the strength that she has.

I touched earlier on how the film’s story is cliche. A lot of the story elements feel pulled from other films of the time. The house itself sits on an ancient Native American holy well of spirits. So someone built it on an Indian “burial ground” and the spirits are restless because of the risk from Roger’s brother. The house and property being needed for nefarious purposes by a large and/or dangerous corporation was an old hat even at the time House IV was released. Adding the supernatural element didn’t help. There just isn’t an original idea in the entire movie.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t any redeeming elements to the movie. Some of the scares are actually entertaining. A scene involving Laurel and her bed that gave me a good jump scare when it occurred. The effects are not high quality, but they don’t ever look bad enough to pull you out of the moment. Also, while goofy, the pizza man (you’ll know it when you see it) is certainly memorable. 

The set looks and feels like a dilapidated house. So they did a good job there. However, from the outside, the house looks massive, but for some reason, the inside felt cramped. I don’t know if it is the fault of the set or the camera angles. To me, it always felt like there was not a lot of moving room in the house.

Terri Treas does a good job as the central character of the film. Her reactions, emotions, and dialogue all feel real to the situations she finds herself in. Also, no matter how weird or difficult things get, she always seems to bounce back enough to be there for her daughter. As an audience, we are privy to those moments when she is alone and lets herself break and Terri is given a solid opportunity in this movie to show her range. She even gets to deliver some solid comical lines. 

As with all the previous films, the music for House IV was created by Harry Manfredini (Friday the 13th, Wishmaster), and also as before, it complements the film tremendously well. Manfredini has worked on dozens of classic horror films and knows how to use his music to crank out that little bit of extra tension in a scene. 

If you want to see this film and be one of the ones out there that can boast about a complete viewing of the House franchise. Then you want to grab a copy from Arrow Video. The picture and audio quality are great. The custom artwork on the label is well done and when you have the full set they all look great together. While not plentiful, they did put together a new documentary on the making of the film called Home Deadly Home that was entertaining to watch. Also, even though it says region B, the disc plays in region A (where I am) no problem.

All told, House IV is probably the weakest film out of the series. Even with some of the strong moments it has, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Even if you have never seen any of the other films, House IV is only mildly entertaining. I think it was too ambitious with its plot elements, too weak with its scares and comedy, and too cliche all around. While not a blockbuster, House IV can still be fun to watch if you go in with the mentality that this is a popcorn-munching, alcohol imbibing, Friday night with your friends kind of a movie.

Check out our other reviews of the House franchise!

House
House II
House III

Rating:

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“Don’t forget to EAT your favorite pizza man!”

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