A well-constructed horror story with beautiful camera shots and lighting in the Dario Argento mold, House of Forbidden Secrets was a good Friday night frightfest. The build-up is nicely put together and you don't need to wait too long before scary things occur within the building. It takes a little bit of time to introduce the characters and set up the story, not in a "slow burn horror" kind of way like The Witch or Ring, but it does have something to say, storyline wise. The Previous occupants still present an ancient evil waiting deep in the bowels beneath the property, waiting to cross back into our world for some bloodthirsty revenge. Director Todd Sheets proves to have a good sense of style and mood, he crafts a film that works and doesn't want to pander to a younger, "hipper" audience for the sake of doing so. He does not pander to audiences who are used to super fast "music video" type editing either.
The tone, the setting, the music, the lighting and the twists in the plot were all produced to get maximum thrills on a meager budget. And I think it worked well here. It's obvious that everyone on this film worked very hard to make something original but that plays like an old Horror movie from the 70s or 80s. Though there are a few hitches, as is the case with most low budget movies, the film takes on a very ambitious story and ends up being a successful endeavor in which the plot, production, and effects are just enough to let the few budgetary glitches slide by barely even noticed. Much better than films that spend millions of dollars and fill the screen with CGI, If you allow yourself, you can be completely pulled into the film itself and take it for what it is, a fun throwback done right. House of Forbidden Secrets was exactly what I had hoped it would be, a fun way to spend an hour and a half.