Brooklyn Horror 2024 Review: HOUSE OF ASHES

Mia’s under house arrest for the crime of miscarriage, but must also contend with the lingering, suspicious death of her husband Adam. He was found dead in the vet clinic they once ran together.  Mia was exhonerated from any murder charges but there are still suspicious locals and shock radio podcasters looking for delicious sound bytes lurking outside her door. 

 

Mia has reconnected with Marc, an old friend who has popped back into her life. Marc loves Mia and wants to protect her. But then suspicious things begin to happen inside her house. Marc's things go missing and Mia's feels like she is being attacked by an unseen force. Mia is confident that the culprit is supernatural, but Marc’s convinced that humans are the problem. Mia trusts her instincts and as she gets closer to discovering the truth behind her husband's death she learns that she is in more danger than ever, and she cannot leave home.

 

After a false start on their feature film career created by the pandemic prolific short form filmmaker Izzy Lee has finally made her feature film debut with the topical and poignant chamber horror, House of Ashes. Turning to friends, fans and peers within the horror community Lee raised a budget through crowdfunding (the crowdfunding credits are basically lists of all of our friends, "Hey, I know that person, and that person, and that person, that person as well. There's my name as well") and yes, in the interest of tranparency we also contributed to the campaign. We all believed in Izzy enough to help her get her foot through the door. Yes, we all figured she would be wearing steel toed boots when she did it.

 

We've got two kinds of guys who have a role in Mia's life. You've got her new boyfriend Marc, played by Vincent Stalba, who is completely sus. You are waiting for the shoe to drop because this new boyfriend of hers just screams creep. The casting is great because you just look at him and you're thinking to yourself, "You like you're a weasel. You're a weasel. You're gonna turn around and you're gonna just fuck everything up. You're a weasel, and she needs to be protected from you". Apologies to Stalba, they nailed it on looks alone, and that sorry excuse for a van dyk beard, the creepiest of beards.  

 

Probation Officer Davis, played by Lee Boxleitner ("Son-of-Bruce" Boxleitner, screamed the sci-fi nerd in us) is a blue state troll. He's someone you imagine volunteered for this assignment because he gets to go hard on the first woman in his state who was charged with the crime of having a miscarriage. Lee goes as far as to have him call the couple a pair of 'snowflakes' once when he's forced to visit Mia after her ankle bracelet loses its charge. He's not around a lot but he's there for unsolicited aggression. 

 

They're embodiments of emotional manipulation and political conservatism; two things Lee has no time for except when it comes time for storytelling. The story is predicting a dangerous new age of womens' autonomy. It's not afraid to take a shot at a certain political side either. If it hasn't been clear to you where Lee has planted her flag by now, start here. 

 

Fayna Sanchez's normally steely blue eyes are wracked with teary, restless nights. Her Mia is in a constant state of vulnerability because hers is a story about taking advantage of somebody who's in a perilous position. She is a captive, held prisoner by the law of the land and someone's taking advantage of that. What starts as gratitude for someone taking care of her after everyone else has abandoned her turns to doubt as supernatural events gradually increase around the home. 

 

The haunting and the horror elements are really cool. I mean obviously, this is the space that Lee lives in. In her debut she knows these things that are meant to be creepy, unknown in origin and unnerving. The whisps of smoke around Adam's left over, personal items is a very cool touch. It's like he's still there. Nothing is over the top, just there, just enough to create fear and then doubt in Mia and give you the viewer the heebie jeebies.

 

Use of swathes of color and its saturation appears to play a part in heightened emotional states as well, be they moments of haunting, fear or Mia's own growing understanding of the spiritual presence in her home. The moments where they are the dullest is when Mia and Marc are being a couple, which is where you'd hope the most emotional points in the story would be. Instead the tones are muted and lifeless. Interesting. 

 

Sure, it's evident somtimes that Lee is working with a small budget. Some of the visual don't pop as they're meant to. House of Ashes is essentially a chamber piece, mostly confined to one location with a small cast, because of that. Having long proved that she can do it in the short form Izzy got tired of waiting around to someone to realize she go do it in the long form. She needed a little help from a lot of her friends but she did it. No matter what you think of House of Ashes this is a victory for Lee. 

 

Lee made a small, uneasy horror thriller around poignant and topical issues regarding a woman's autonomy. Some of the the villains are obvious and othes not so much. You just need some time to suss them out. That's the joy of storytelling. Finally, set in the fictional city of Aikins, you can see that Lee still uses downtown Los Angeles as a backdrop during one of its final shots, speculating that if things continue they way they're going nowhere will be safe for women.