I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

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I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

Released Oct 28, 2016

1h 27m

Horror

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59%

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22 Reviews

24%

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1,000+ Ratings

Hired to care for a reclusive elderly author (Paula Prentiss), a live-in nurse (Ruth Wilson) comes to believe her house is haunted.

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Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

The Blue Lenses

Slow and determinedly poised ... I am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House is ... an acquired taste, but its rejection of predictable ten-minute cyclic jump-scares [and] perkily inquisitive adolescents ... make it a quiet, unsettling delight.

Aug 25, 2018

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Brian Tallerico

RogerEbert.com

An atmospheric take on the haunted house flick that works more with dread and the looming specter of death than the traditional tropes that often define the genre.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 28, 2016

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A.A. Dowd

AV Club

Can a horror movie get by on nothing but atmosphere, on the the je ne sais quoi of its unsettling mood? I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House suggests that maybe it can.

Rated: B+

Oct 27, 2016

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

It's an ethereal, dreamlike, malleable movie, almost in the experimental vein, unconcerned with a linear explanation of events. Ghosts are in charge here.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jul 12, 2024

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Jordy Sirkin

Jordy Reviews It

Atmosphere in this film is superb, and there’s a great Gothic, moody presence throughout that I was certainly a fan of. Though, I felt it supported itself solely on that, with the tension never really riding a wave towards an effective result.

Feb 22, 2023

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Jason Shawhan

Nashville Scene

I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House is the slowest of slow-burn ghost stories (featuring the return to cinema of the incomparable Paula Prentiss after ages) about a young woman working as a caregiver and attendant for a reclusive novelist.

Sep 10, 2021

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Audience Member

What is it like? Imagine The Shining if Wendy just went to the hotel by herself, narrated things to herself a lot, and nothing much happened - she just got creeped out a bit. The plot doesn't make a lot of sense. Lily could just leave at any time, particularly when the house began to grow mold. It wouldn't be fair of me to say the lead actress did a bad job. It seems like it would be extremely hard to act when you've got no-one else to play off for the entirety of the performance. Since the film basically had just the one character and didn't have conversations going on and didn't have a lot of action, it was constantly putting itself in a position where it had to tell, not show. I gave up after an hour. I like slow burning, psychological horror but this was a bit too much. It was more of a poetry recital done in movie format.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

08/10/25

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Becka S

Had me interested and hanging on. Was not sure what was going on, and from someone who loves horror/thriller/mystery. This I couldn’t quite figure out. Even till the end. that Lilly died because of mold poisoning. and because no one was there to care for her, the older lady died because she was ill as it was. it was made very clear that Polly was a storyline of the author. What keeps me confused is when did Lilly die? Was it early on or later?

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/29/25

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Esra Y

Movie is very deliberately eery and seemed stretch time itself. Perkins's love stoic stills, slow pace talking, sound design with most disturbing feeling which he mastered in his current work Longlegs can all be catch in this earlier work. Ruth Wilson once again doesn't act but fully shapeshifts into her character. Couldn't take my eyes off the screen all the while praying for it to end soon.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/11/25

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Rob L

This has to be one of the most boring movies ever made. Just terrible.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

07/06/25

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Tim M

There's more runtime than story in I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, but the film remains an artistically curious venture from Osgood Perkins.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/07/25

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Andres G

A favorite for me, I find it comforting, the atmosphere is envolving. Definitely slow, not the kind of movie to watch with friends, this should be seen alone

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/06/25

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Oz Perkins

Director

Ruth Wilson

Lily

Paula Prentiss

Iris Blum

Bob Balaban

Mr. Waxcap

Lucy Boynton

Polly

Brad Milne

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I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Hired to care for a reclusive elderly author (Paula Prentiss), a live-in nurse (Ruth Wilson) comes to believe her house is haunted.

Director: Oz Perkins
Producer: Rob Paris, Robert Menzies
Screenwriter: Oz Perkins
Production Co: Paris Film Productions, Zed Filmworks
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 28, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 23, 2017
Runtime: 1h 27m

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