"I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House" Review!

You do know you can put a review right here on this site?

Regarding your point that there is "no character development" as a criticism, I must take issue. Not that because any of the characters have in any sense an explorable arc, but that this was the essential core of the film. Characters do NOT always develop in neat, tidy loops that can be summarized in 90-120 minutes of film in real life. Most people are who they are and stay that way for quite a long period of time. And I guess you didn't catch Lily's subtle, yet noticeable descent into suffocating madness and fear.

I think perhaps your objection is that Lily Saylor is not a heroic figure. She yields to her own paranoia and lack of sense of self to disastrous consequence. But that is not an unrealistic or unreasonable outcome and it should not be raised as a criticism.

I read your review. You clearly didn't understand the movie.

It's not a horror story, in the first place. It's a ghost story. Did you see "The Others"? Another brilliant ghost story. Ghost stories are usually slow and subtle. You look in the dark backgrounds for shapes and forms, never sure of what you think you saw.

The lead actress' acting was superb. The narrator spoke in an emotionless way because it's not a human speaking. You didn't seem to catch that...and that is the main point of the movie.

What you see unfold before you is the story of Lily, as remembered by ghost Lily. Not necessarily 100% accurate in details, like the time of year she arrived at the house. Remember that the ghosts who choose to confine themselves to certain areas are looking for themselves as humans, and can't quite clearly see themselves. Did you notice her saying, "The pretty thing you are looking at is me. Of that, I am quite sure." Pretty odd way to say "you're looking at me," isn't it? Why did she say it that way? Why did she stress the sureness of it?

Why was she wearing the outfit she was wearing on the day of arrival (if that was the outfit she had really been wearing)? Did you notice anything....odd about it?

You just didn't understand the movie. It's not "Halloween" or "Sinister." It's a brilliant ghost story, expertly written, superbly acted, and cleverly twisted. It's not for everyone.

As for Lily being too unemotional and flat, this is a Lily, as I said above, being presented to us by ghost Lily, which is not necessarily 100% factual. Second, Lily is not your normal 28 year old, is she? She leaves whatever little life she has to go live with a dying elderly woman for an indeterminate period of time, possibly years, with little outside contact. She is pleasant, dutiful, neat, honest, quiet, fearful, polite. Not your normal 28 year old.