The Curse of Hobbes House (2020) Movie Review

Curse of Hobbes House: Don’t Wake the Dead!

Director: Juliane Block

Writer: Wolf-Peter Arand (Screenplay) Juliane Block (Story)

Starring: Mhairi Calvey, Makenna Guyler, Waleed Elgadi, Kevin Leslie, Jo PRice

Plot: When down on her luck Jane Dormant learns about the death of her Aunt Alexandra she expects a life-saving inheritance but finds herself battling bloodthirsty Zombies instead, fighting for her life.

Tagline – Don’t wake the dead!

Runtime: 1 Hour 22 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Unique Undead Action

Story: The Curse of Hobbes House starts with the death of Aunt Alexandra (Hussey) a distant relative of down on her luck Jane Dormant (Calvey), ask to attend the will reading. Jane has an unexpected reunion with her social media celebrity half-sister Jennifer (Guyler) as they deal with they own disagreements in life. They are joined by groundskeeper Naser (Elgadi) and Jennifer’s partner Nigel Thatcher (Leslie).

As the night comes the secret curse on the house comes to life, with darkness filling the halls and the shadows holding secrets of the undead. Which will see the sisters needing to put their differences aside to survive the horrors.

Thoughts on The Curse of Hobbes House

Characters – Jane Dormant has struggled in life, she is now living in her car, with her latest job finishing. She doesn’t know where to turn next until she gets an unexpected call about the death of her Aunt and being left something in the will. Jane is street smart, showing she is up for the fight with the threat that comes their way.

Jennifer is the half-sister of Jane, she is a social media celebrity going by the name of Journey. The two clash, like any siblings whose lives have gone in different direction. Nigel Thatcher is the partner of Jennifer. He fills the role of somebody who believes they are better than anyone else. Naser is the caretaker who was given a chance to learn about the curse and the one that does fill in the answer to what is going on.

Performances – Mhairi Calvey as the streetwise of the two sisters is great, while Makenna Guyler works very well as the social media celebrity. The two shows us just what would happen with sisters arguing. Waleed Elgadi and Kevin Leslie are both strong in the supporting roles, filling the required parts of the bigger story.

Story

The story follows two sisters that must come back together for a will reading, only to learn they are being prepared for something bigger. Which will see them fighting off the undead. This story does create its own mythology about why the curse is put in place. Which is a very interesting start to the movie as we get to learn what will happen, while the characters must wait to see how things will unfold.

When it comes to the sister dynamic and character action, we do follow the traditions of the undead rising formula. This is also seen in the characters decisions too. When we do get to the undead rising they do have a unique look. Which would play into why and who they are, when they are rising. This is a story that has the seeds to be delved into deeper in the future too, with how important this location will be to stop the undead rising.

Horror – The horror in the film does give us the undead rising, we get to learn about what causes this. Which is usually one of the bigger weaknesses in the genre. The undead do have a unique look, with their glowing eyes too.

Settings – The film is shot in one location, the remote house, it has a historical look. Which only gets to play into the deeper picture of everything going on.

Special Effects – The effects used in the film are used well, we don’t turn to them for the shock undead kill, rather, we focus on the story at hand.

Scene of the Movie
The first undead appearance.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – How did the undead get upstairs?

Final Thoughts – This is a horror movie that does bring something new to the undead concept. We have a greater built in mythology about what is causing everything, that doesn’t take clues to uncover.

Overall: Unique Undead Spin.