The Beach House

Critics Consensus

An intriguing and unsettling debut for writer-director Jeffrey A. Brown, The Beach House offers a delightfully grim getaway for fans of imaginative, ambitious horror.

81%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 101

28%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 71
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Movie Info

Escaping to his family's beach house to reconnect, Emily and Randall find their off-season trip interrupted by Mitch and Jane Turner, an older couple acquainted with Randall's estranged father. Unexpected bonds form as the couples let loose and enjoy the isolation, but it all takes an ominous turn as increasingly strange environmental phenomena begin to warp their peaceful evening. As the effects of an infection become evident, Emily struggles to make sense of the contagion before it's too late.

Cast

Liana Liberato
as Emily
Noah Le Gros
as Randall
Jake Weber
as Mitch
Maryanne Nagel
as Jane
Steven Corkin
as Infected Neighbor
Michael Brumfield
as Police Officer

Critic Reviews for The Beach House

All Critics (101) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (82) | Rotten (19)

View All Critic Reviews (101)

Audience Reviews for The Beach House

  • Jul 25, 2020
    Sometimes when watching a movie, I will get disappointed because I sense a path not taken that should have been, an intriguing premise that hasn't fully been developed, and I get sad that the movie I'm watching isn't really the best version of its potential story. Call it the Black Mirror Syndrome (oh, hot take). I felt this same assessment while watching two small indie films recently released on demand, one horror and one science fiction. Each has its own artistic merits and each I felt wasn't the best version of itself. The Beach House follows a twenty-something couple on a beach side retreat. They have problems in their relationship, there's an older couple who arrive at the same house, and after awhile the film essentially becomes The Color Out of Space, an atmospheric horror movie about humans dealing with a biological unknown. Something from the sea is coming out, via mist or jellyfish or... something, and it's affecting human psychology and physiology. The Beach House is far too vague for its own good and takes far too long getting its story moving. I started falling asleep at several points, so my attention was not exactly rapt. It ends in an expected downbeat but without greater explanation, or even theories about what is happening, and there's just not enough story and drama present to fill that void. The characters come across a division of beach homes mysteriously absent any neighbors. It reminded me of a Stephen King story beginning, an environment where something bad has transpired and the new characters have to figure it out. As far as creepy atmosphere goes, it's fine, and there are moments of unnerving body horror, like a protracted sequence where our heroine fishes out a jellyfish tentacle inside her wounded foot. Still, the general obtuse nature of the entire enterprise, and the underdeveloped characters we're stuck with, made this feel like a disappointment for all but the most desperate for atmospheric horror. Nate's Grade: C
    Nate Z Super Reviewer
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