42
Summary: After the death of their baby, Salama (Razane Jammal) and Khalib move from America to Ras al-Khaimah where they soon discover that the deluxe high rise they’ve moved into is haunted. This movie was directed by Tobe Hooper, who also directed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
WHAT’S HOT: My current favorite horror blog, HMAD, has defined the perfect term for this movie: “Woman Confined To Her House Deals With Shit”. These movies always star a woman who spends the majority of her time in her house, and bad things are happening, but her husband doesn’t believe her. Choosing to shoot a movie almost exclusively in one location is a gamble, but thankfully Djinn takes place in a gorgeous modern high rise that stands alone in the middle of the desert, shrouded in fog. Our protagonist Salama isn’t the most developed of characters, but Razane Jammal is absolutely gorgeous and interesting to watch. I found Djinn convincingly Arabic, and was actually deeply confused when I found out that it was indeed directed by Tobe Hooper, so good on him.
WHAT’S NOT: The main issue with Djinn is that it isn’t very scary. I could forgive the substandard dialogue and atrocious acting if the movie was actually scary. The only slightly scary parts of Djinn are when the Djinn is crawling menacingly across the floor, a clear horror cliche, but one that is executed well. Unfortunately, these few moments are not enough. If I’m going to sit through an hour and a half of a movie I need something more than a pretty set and a pretty actress to actually round up any enthusiasm for it.
*You may want to read the breakdown of my rating system or my glossary of terms before continuing.*
BASIC (11/25)
Plot: 2
Dialogue: 1
Setting: 4
Acting: 3
Uniqueness: 1
CHARACTERS (13/30)
Protagonist: 7 (Salama)
Antagonist: 2 (Djinn)
Sidekick characters: 4 (Khalid)
TIME LINE (6/15)
Opening: 2
Title sequence: 2
Ending: 2
THE “HORROR” (5/15)
Gore: 1
Suspense: 2
Special effects: 2
MOTIVES (6/10)
Protagonist motive: 4
Antagonist motive: 2
Was it scary: 1
Overall: 42
This House is Haunted 