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Thursday, June 18, 2009

House IV: Home Deadly Home (1990)

...aka: House IV
...aka: House 4: The Repossession

Directed by:
Lewis Abernathy

People were understandably confused when, after HOUSE (1985) and HOUSE II: THE SECOND STORY (1987) were released, Part IV suddenly reared its ugly head on home video, but there is an explanation. An awful (and completely unrelated) horror-comedy called THE HORROR SHOW (1989) here in America had already used the HOUSE III moniker for its European release, so the distributors here took that into account so they wouldn't fall into the same confusing, overlapping hell trap that befell the Demons and Zombie series'. But it's really all for naught, as none of the four films in this series (all of which were produced by Sean S. Cunningham) are all that good. After her husband Roger (William Katt) is killed in an automobile accident that also crippled her daughter Laurel (Melissa Clayton), Kelly Cobb (Terri Treas) is determined to hang onto the big new house she gained in the inheritance. People warn her to get out because they think the house is haunted, and she soon realizes they are right. Or could it be that someone actually wants her out of the house for their own greedy benefit? Blah sequel attempts to make its characters sympathetic, but still has crappy special effects, a derivative and predictable storyline and uneven performances. Attempts at comedy are also lame and out of place. Though Katt has the same character name he used in the original film, he seems to be playing a different character here. Treas used a body double (Ellyn Dawn Humphreys) for a nude scene in a blood shower, and watch for an uncredited Kane Hodder as "the human pizza." *smirk*
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The cast also includes Scott Burkholder as the shady brother-in-law, Dabbs Greer as the grandpa, Denny Dillon (from the Dream On TV series), Ned Romero as a helpful Indian neighbor and Ned Bellamy. It's based on a story co-written by Jim Wynorski and three other people. The director had previously worked on the special effects for WITCHBOARD (1986). Not released until 1992.

Score: 2.5 out of 10

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