A House on the Bayou (2021)

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Posted By: brian@brianschell.com December 14, 2021

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

The unnerving horror thriller A HOUSE ON THE BAYOU is now available On Digital and On Demand! A family vacation in rural Louisiana takes a sinister turn when neighbors show up for dinner uninvited, testing the family’s fragile bond and forcing dark secrets to come to light. Buy or Rent A HOUSE ON THE BAYOU and watch it today. Unrated. From Paramount Pictures.

We both liked this a lot. It was not what either of us expected from the trailer.

Synopsis

John comes home from work to find that his wife Jessica has discovered his affair with Vivienne. He tries to deny it, but she has photos. She doesn’t want to divorce him, but she insists that the two of them and their daughter should go on a vacation. He agrees to stop the affair immediately. Credits roll as ominous music plays.

They drive to a huge plantation-looking house . Daughter Anna is impressed. It’s very large and very isolated. It’s a working vacation, as Jessica is a Realtor who will be making a virtual tour for the house to be shown. She bosses John around, making him pay for his indiscretion.

John and Anna go to town to pick up a few things, and they meet a teenager, Isaac, who introduces himself to Anna. He’s older than she is, but she likes him. The old man behind the counter is weird. On the way out, John finds a note saying, “You are being watched by the devil” written on his receipt.

There’s a locked room that they don’t have a key for. That room’s not even on the blueprint. Isaac stops over and invites them all to dinner tonight; they are the nearest neighbors. The old man at the counter was his grandpa. There’s some friction about their dinner plans, so Jessica agrees they should go.

Later, Isaac comes to the door again; their oven broke, so they brought food to them. John asks Grandpappy about the devil note, but the old man doesn’t really clarify very much. Grandpappy makes them all very nice meal. Isaac knows where the candles are without being shown. The parents step out of the room for matches and to discuss getting these strange people out of the house. When they come back, Anna says Isaac lit the candles with his finger. What a trick!

Jessica tells Isaac that they need to leave after dinner, but he doesn’t want to leave. He knows all about the locked room, and even predicts when Anna has her next nosebleed. They insist that Isaac leave, but he doesn’t go willingly.

The power goes out, and Isaac gets creepier. The cat somehow gets into the secret room, and they all hear something in there killing the cat.

Isaac goes to the bathroom, and Grandpappy tells them what’s what. The old man says that when men lie and cheat, it opens a door. “He just sort of appeared one summer. Walked right out of the bayou.” Grandpappy doesn’t even know his last name, so he took him in. He’s been staying with Grandpappy for decades— and he never gets any older.

Grandpappy puts on a record off the shelf, and it turns out to be a recording of John talking to Vivienne, promising he’d leave his wife for her. Ouch! John denies everything and thinks Grandpappy is trying to blackmail them.

Isaac walks in; he’s carrying a perfectly healthy cat. John thinks Jessica has paid the two locals to play a mind game with him. Jessica and John argue while everyone else just watches the show. Anna screams; she sees some kind of large animal out on the lawn.

Isaac and John go outside to look for the animal. Turns out, it was John who hired these two to break in and kill Jessica. John accuses Isaac of screwing with the deal. John doesn’t like Isaac’s “Voodoo shit,” but Isaac insists on doing it his way. Inside, Jessica tries to make a deal with Grandpappy.

Isaac comes back in and says he’s going to lock them in the room upstairs. He opens the door and sends John inside first then locks him in. There’s something nasty in the closet.

The doorbell rings; it’s Vivienne. John texted her to come here, but it was actually Isaac using John’s phone. Jessica tells her to go to the police, and Vivienne gives her some mace to use as a weapon. Vivienne’s car suddenly refuses to start. Grandpappy brings out a can of gas and fries Vivienne and her car. Jessica then beats Grandpappy to death with a hammer. She then gives Anna Grandpappy’s shotgun and her mace and goes inside after John.

She goes upstairs to the room, and sees the demonic coyote and what’s left of John. She says goodbye and closes the door on him.

Isaac comes out and talks to Anna. He quickly gets the gun away from her. He wants to kidnap her away and marry her. Jessica runs up, and Isaac explains John’s plan. Anna uses the mace and Jessica gets the gun and shoots him. He says he’s been alive for centuries; maybe he’s a demon, or an angel, or just a confused kid. He gives them the car keys, and they hop in the car, which starts right away.

The next morning at the sheriff’s office, the sheriff explains that there’s no house like that anywhere out there. The pictures of the house are gone from her phone. The sheriff drives Jessica to the address, but there’s no house there and no sign there ever was. She finds her lost wedding ring in the grass; yes, this is the right place. Then, Isaac and Grandpappy show up. Isaac takes care of this town…

Commentary

Why would anyone want to go on vacation to a bayou with mosquitoes and alligators in the first place?

Still, there were surprises here that neither of us saw coming.

It’s very creepy and suspenseful throughout. The music is great. It’s not quite clear for a long time whether there’s really anything supernatural about Isaac or not. At first, it seems to be, but then once things start twisting, you aren’t sure any more. The ending is pretty cool too; there could be sequels in the works.

NEW Giveways!

This week we have a new giveaway to announce!

We have NINE copies of the new horror film, “A House on the Bayou” to give away. On December 26th, we’ll contact nine lucky people chosen from the following: