Playhouse

2020

1h 27m

Mystery & Thriller

Horror

List

67%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

25%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

After an irreverent playwright moves into a Scottish castle to develop a horror production, his daughter falls prey to an evil curse lurking within the walls.

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Alix Turner

Ready Steady Cut

A Highland castle setting is just as important a feature as the characters in this debut feature from the Watts brothers, about a writer taking advantage of his new home's history.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 13, 2021

Full Review

Paul Grammatico

Dread Central

If you are looking for a good throwback to a grand old gothic good time, Playhouse will be a dreadful delight.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 21, 2020

Full Review

Frank Swietek

One Guy's Opinion

A Gothic ghost story with oodles of atmosphere but too little tension and suspense.

Rated: C

Nov 20, 2020

Full Review

Andrew Stover

Film Threat

Although Playhouse isn't as emotionally critical or tightly written as it should be, The Watts brothers are skilled in nurturing a dour atmosphere and exposing a darker side to the creative impulse.

Rated: 7/10

Nov 17, 2020

Full Review

Roger Moore

Movie Nation

A fumbling, groping and almost wholly-unsatisfying thriller set in a towering old house near the water's edge, where the wind howls and there's a shock, fright or laugh behind every tree. Except that it being Scotland, there're no bleeding trees.

Rated: 1.5/4

Nov 14, 2020

Full Review

Jennie Kermode

Eye for Film

Whilst unresolved mystery is part of the oeuvre of the Gothic, too much just results in a narrative muddle. This, ultimately, dooms the film, but not before they've succeeded in showing off their skills.

Rated: 2.5/5

Sep 11, 2020

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Brad P

If you are looking for a good throwback to a grand old gothic good time, Playhouse will be a dreadful delight.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I don't usually bother writing reviews, but this was honestly so terrible I felt compelled to. Nothing remotely interesting happened and I'd reached half way through the movie. I eventually got so bored waiting for literally anything that I switched it off. The "acting" (if you can call it that), is bland and the actors show no emotional response to anything going on. If you're struggling to sleep, this may help. For entertainment, better off watching paint dry.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

the s

It always astounds me when producers have access to an amazing set (like an old, gothic Scottish castle) and still end up creating a film that is neither scary nor creepy. Honestly, just taking a camera through the castle would have been scarier than this movie (and dare I say, more interesting). All the same old, cliched tropes are explored here to no real end; the plot itself had some potential but the characters are wholly unlikable and the movie suffers horribly as a result. I get trying to write an eccentric playwright or a brooding teen...but haven't we figured out by now that if the characters are impossible to like that the movie is difficult to watch? That's the case here...nobody wants to sit through cliched, pretentious, offensively bad characters being pretentious and miserable to one another. It becomes a chore to sit through. And you can write characters who are eccentric and dark without making them offensive to all the senses. (By the way, I get that the author was young when the daughter was born but poor casting choices for these parts may have been the first big error. Like some other viewers, I thought they were a married couple for the first 10 minutes.) The rest of the movie kind of burns itself out: the cliches all come together for a movie that is slow, boring and very difficult to get all the way through. Yes, it has elements of dark/gothic horror but they're juxtaposed against all the trite parts that turn it into little more than a syfy type of made-for-TV rubbish with nothing new to say and void of all the classic parts of the vintage, creepy Hammer type of horror movies that people romanticize and love. In short, this movie combines the worst of the best worlds and falls dramatically flat.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

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Fionn Watts

Director

Toby Watts

Director

Rebecca Calienda

Kathryn

Grace Courtney

Bee Travis

Mathilde Darmady

Katie

Helen Mackay

Jenny Andrews

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Synopsis

After an irreverent playwright moves into a Scottish castle to develop a horror production, his daughter falls prey to an evil curse lurking within the walls.

Director: Fionn Watts, Toby Watts
Screenwriter: Fionn Watts, Toby Watts
Production Co: Far North Film
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 15, 2020
Runtime: 1h 27m

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