David (Eric Foster) and Lynn (Kim Valentine) lose their father and have to go live with their grandparents. Once there, they find them to not only be a little weird, but also potentially psychotic. This movie was released in 1988, seemed to be everywhere in the late 1980's and early 1990's, and I must have watched it about a two dozen times over those years...I'm not going to say it was primarily because I had a crush on Kim Valentine.
Aside from my infatuation, I did always find this to be an interesting film. About midway through the 1990's, however, the movie seemed to just vanish, from both my mind and the actual world. Occasionally throughout the 21st Century, I would think of the movie and search it out on eBay. On the rare occasion I could find it listed, it was rather expensive, so I passed, fully confident I would come across it again some day. One can imagine my delight when I saw it had arrived on my new favorite source for horror movies, Tubi. With great excitement, I hit the play button, but would the movie hold up after having not seen it for probably 25 years?
Okay, so it's not the horror masterpiece I may have believed it was for so long, but that's not to say this is a bad movie; it's not that, but it is certainly an odd one. Director Peter Rader hits us with some unconventional camera angles--the fact that he only directed two other films may say something about this approach. The movie seems far too wrapped up in itself, as it goes for twist after twist, but fails to maintain a cohesive story while doing so. Some of the dialogue is equally baffling. The acting is surprisingly adequate, with both Valentine and Foster doing a decent job, and Len Lesser bringing the creepiness as the grandfather. The cinematography is also impressive, and seeing the kids exploring the farm took me back to when I was a child and loved such exploration. Anyway, the ending of the movie is just as surreal as the rest of it, and the bizarre feel of the film is what will stick with you more than anything else. No, Grandmother's House is not quite the movie I remember, but the 14 year old in me still enjoyed it. I'm happy I watched it again, and even happier I didn't drop fifty bucks to buy the DVD.
On A Scale Of One To Ten: 5
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