IN THE HOUSE OF FLIES

Steve (Ryan Kotack) and Heather (Lindsay Smith) are young and in love. We witness this as they cavort merrily through the opening titles discussing marriage, cruising the colourful arcades and generally having fun while the AOR strains of Saga play in the background. The setting is 1988 and it all looks like the introduction to some sappy 80s sitcom.

The frivolities end abruptly when Steve and Heather return to his car at the end of the day. They notice a strange chemical smell in the vehicle, and then … they’re out cold.

When they next awaken, the couple find themselves trapped in a custom-made concrete basement. They have no recollection as to how they got there, and no idea where they are or who has abducted them. Or indeed why.

A dog barks outside. Inside, the couple have a toilet, a telephone and several locked suitcases. Before long the ‘phone rings and the anonymous voice on the other end of the line (Henry Rollins) tells them that they must follow his instructions if they want the combinations to each suitcase, which contain necessary foods.

As the days roll by – occasionally signposted by onscreen text – the couple are subjected to sadistic games in which the voice encourages them to punch each other, burn themselves with matches and so on. When Heather reveals she is pregnant, the voice uses this as a tool to coerce the couple into even more extreme situations.

Escape seems impossible …

Gabriel Carrer directs from Angus McLellan’s screenplay. The director is proficient, eschewing the more likely route of torture-porn excesses to instead focus on the very human reactions to suffering. And McLellan’s script seeks to explore concepts of loyalty, commitment, responsibility and duty, rather than exploit physical torment. However, you can’t help but feel like a lot of the scenarios being played out are being rehashed from the likes of OLDBOY and SAW.

Even Rollins’ sinister voice, barely registering above a placid threat, recalls the ‘phone calls from the SCREAM films. And when he berates Steve for never giving towards charities in the past, he may as well have called himself Jigsaw...

Thankfully, IN THE HOUSE OF FLIES has Kotack and Smith as its trump cards. They are both excellent as the starving, terrified lovers who are pushed to the limits and inadvertently sent on journeys of self-discovery. When the voice goads Steve about failing to provide for his unborn child, Kotack makes you feel the pain of his inadequacy. Smith treads a convincingly fine line between vulnerability and resilience.

Unfortunately the whole thing is pretty aimless and does tend to sag in the middle. The conclusion, though I can see what the filmmakers are saying (though won’t divulge here), is wholly unsatisfying.

IN THE HOUSE OF FLIES looks about as good as its low budget digital camerawork will allow on this region-free DVD. Presented in its original 2.35:1 ratio and enhanced for 16x9 televisions, images are crisp and detailed but colours and blacks do tend to suffer from a washed-out appearance. Happily there is no noise or compression to contend with.

English audio comes in the form of a dependable 2.0 mix. Optional English subtitles are provided, complete with action cues for the Hard-of-Hearing. These are easy to read and largely free from typing errors.

The disc opens to an animated main menu page. From there, a static scene selection menu allows access to the film via 14 chapters.

A 39-minute Behind The Scenes documentary kicks off the bonus features. It’s shot on a much lower grade digital camera than the main feature but offers a good fly-on-the-wall account of the location shoot. We take in footage of the make-up process, Henry’s creepy vocals being recorded, see how the set design was created and so forth.

A 7-minute featurette invites us to sit in on handheld footage taken at the film’s world premiere screening in Spain. Unfortunately the Q&A snippets with Carrer and McLellan are obscured by Spanish dubbing over their American voices.

A short series of deleted scenes follow, as does the film’s original trailer.

Solid performances and an intriguing premise ensure IN THE HOUSE OF FLIES is worth a look. But there’s a sense of déjà vu here which, along with the amorphous screenplay and damp squib of an ending, undo a lot of the good work.

By Stuart Willis