Every Haunting Hour Ever #69: My Old House

 

Season: 4

Episode: 3

Original Airdate: October 11, 2014 

Director: Neill Fearnly

Writer(s): Natalie Lapointe & Greg Yolen

Before this episode was released, I thought it was going to be an Alice in Wonderland themed episode based on iMDB's plot summary of it. When the episode came out however, I got something completely different. 

Alice and her family are moving to a new house, but Alice doesn't want to leave — and Alice discovers that the house doesn't want her to leave it...ever again. 

One of the things I liked about this episode was how they handled the personification of the house. With something like this, it would've been very easy just to make the house have cartoonish, over the top expressions to express its feelings. However, with the possible exception of the face in Alice's room made of wall lamps and an air vent, this episode goes in a more subtle direction with it. For example, when Alice is talking to the house, it uses the lights above the fireplace to answer her questions (one flash for yes, two flashes for no). It also opens doors to certain areas if Alice requests it. The house also talks but I feel like the house's talking bits are handled better than the demon's talking bits from Grandpa's Glasses. For one thing, it only speaks in short sentences once or twice throughout the episode and while the voice they chose isn't anything phenomenal, it was a type of voice that I could at least take seriously. 

The other thing I liked about the episode was the source of the atmosphere. Unlike in other episodes with heavy atmosphere, the main source of it in this episode comes from Alice herself. At first, Alice's love for the house isn't anything too over the top, especially given the situation. However, as the episode progresses, it becomes clear that she is so obsessed with her old house, that she comes off as somebody who has some underlying mental health issues, which is rather unnerving to watch. 

The only thing I'm unsure of is the ending. So the episode ends with  After Alice's parents come searching for her, Alice realizes that she needs to back home, but the house refuses to let her leave. The two "eye" sconces extend from red ropes and form a snake head behind Alice and it grabs her as she screams in terror. Later on, an unnamed new family moves into Alice's old house. The parents discover one of Alice's baby teeth in the fireplace where her box was burned. When the daughter looks at her new bedroom, she discovers not only the light sconce vent face, but an actual smiling human face (presumably Alice) in the wall.

On the one hand, the whole eye ropes effect looks rather fake and kind of resembles low budget CGI from a 1990's film. As if that weren't bad enough, the snake head looks rather silly as well. But on the other hand, the human face in Alice's old room is rather terrifying and the wonkiness of the special effect makes it all the more effective, as it seems to amplify the frightening nature of it.

Overall, My Old House is an episode with an odd concept but it's executed in a way where it works most of the time.

Overall Grade: B+