Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Last House on Cemetery Lane’

Written by Scott Edwards 

​Looking for inspiration is nothing new. Artists of all types need to find a way to keep their gears going and come up with new and inventive ideas. While some are able to depend on their friends, family or fans to inspire them, others just need to get away from it all. Leaving the familiar confines of home and traveling around is a great way to see new things, along with meeting new people. Everyone has their own methods and one thing that I always say, if you find something that works, don’t go changing it.

John Davies is looking for something more than a holiday, he is looking to get away. Being a screenwriter in the horror genre, he is in need of someplace quiet and away from the world. Finding a perfect house to rent for the next six months, John is happy with the area and the seclusion that he will be able to find staying there while working on his next story. But John is hit with some news that is a total surprise to him, there is another tenant in the house that will be living with him.

Being thrown for a loop, John is upset about the situation and demands to know why this information was not disclosed in the ad. After being promised that the woman living on the top level is not a nuisance and will hardly ever be seen around the house, John accepts that he will not be alone and accepts the deal. While getting settled in the house, John knows he has made the right decision, but whenever he is not looking, there is someone lurking in the shadows. Knowing that he is not alone, John pays little attention to the strange things that are happening around the house, as a record player gets turned on every night, or a doll from the extra bedroom is moved around the home, as he thinks this is being done by his roommate. But his attention is quickly averted from even worrying about this when he meets his neighbor, Cassie Konrad.

At first sight, John knows that he wants to spend as much time as possible with Cassie and the two wind up in each other’s company more often than not. But John still wants to meet the other tenant in the house and when he enters the empty room above him, he finds that it barley looks lived in, but the occurrences around the house start to get stranger and when asking Cassie about what she would do, the young woman is not able to give a full answer but recommends that he tries to contact the deceased in the house. Getting an Ouija board, John tries to contact the ghosts that haunt his current home and although the session starts off nicely, everything starts to go downhill quickly as he starts to ask the right questions that warrant more of a response than just a glass moving.

Well, this movie kept me guessing until the end about what was really happening and that is a good thing. I did enjoy how the story played out, even during the down times of the story and it had a couple scenes that make me cringe a bit. I will admit that the cinematography was very good as some of the shots made me believe I was watching something completely different. I am still trying to decide if I just liked this movie, or if I really like this movie, and I think it will require a second viewing to make sure one way or the other. Something that I do like about the smaller cast horror movies is that the cast actually has to act in order to carry the story and in this movie they did just that. Stay Scared.

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