FRIGHTFEST HALLOWEEN: THE WATERHOUSE
Horror on the waterfront
Minor spoilers for The Waterhouse, which had its world premiere at the FrightFest Halloween event on the 27th of October.
It was bound to go wrong. The very setup of Samuel Clemens’ debut feature The Waterhouse demands a certain level of consequence as three art thieves descend on a secluded house on the coast of England to hideout. Eric (Alan Calton) is the first to arrive, followed by his accomplice and lover Matt (Dominic Vulliamy), both of whom are expecting Matt’s mother to appear but there’s no sign of her – at least nothing but the stolen painting and bloodstains by the water.
Paul (Michelangelo Fortuzzi) is the final one to arrive and by this point, the paranoia is already rising as they try to explain what happened to the fourth member. Clemens supplements this rather generic setup by working with cinematographer Fernando Ruiz, who integrates some stunning drone shots to highlight the characters’ isolation. There’s also the soundtrack, which easily ranks as one of the most immersive I’ve heard in an independent film. The haunting vocal harmonies wrap around the viewer and throw them off-guard, even if there’s often very little payoff to these moments.
Things only get worse for the hapless thieves when three women turn up on the beach, having escaped their sinking boat. Opal (Lara Lemon), Pixie (Lily Catalifo) and Noé (Sandrine Salyères), certainly liven things up, encouraging the three men to play a drinking game with what little alcohol they have in the house.
To talk much about the horror that inevitably comes in the second half would be to spoil The Waterhouse, although the twist quickly becomes apparent when the various facets of the film start to come together. It also comes a little too late, with only Paul standing out from the three leads, meaning that the audience will quickly be hoping for the characters to be dispatched. Fortuzzi’s performance brings the character to life, and his role is more realistically scripted, whereas many aspects of Matt and Eric are underwhelming, and while the performances are good, neither actor is given much to work with.
The female leads perform far better, with more defined characterisation but it takes too long to build to the evitable twist. By the halfway point, the gorgeous soundtrack has continually built to very little.
Clemens is talented but struggles to take all his ideas through to completion. The paranoia he builds at the beginning has to be quickly forgotten as circumstances become stranger, with no satisfactory payoff to the character development. Similarly, the twist is so obviously signposted to the audience that much of the surprise in the backend is dampened.
The Waterhouse feels like a very impressive short film, with an extended intro to bring it up to feature length. Too much time is spent on conversations that never really go anywhere or develop the plot. Exposition is shoehorned in to continue the dissent between the characters but is either pushed aside or quickly wrapped up with flashbacks.
Clemens shows a lot of talent with his debut, but the work needs tightening to truly be effective. He has a clear feel for mood and music in his films but much of this is undone by the pacing. A showcase for his directorial abilities perhaps.
Writer/director: Samuel Clemens
Starring: Lara Lemon, Michelangelo Fortuzzi, Lily Catalifo, Sandrine Salyères, Dominic Vulliamy, Alan Calton
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