Not a horrible idea, just not followed through very well.
The Roost (2005)
Directed By: Ti West (The House of the Devil)
The Prologue
I like the style of Ti West, I really do. With The House of the Devil and with this movie The Roost, Ti really shows that he has a love for anything old school in the world of horror. But where as The House of the Devil really seemed to work, The Roost doesn’t do so well. This movie ranked on Bloody-Disgusting’s list of best horror films of 2005 making me believe that 05 must have been a slow year. If not slow, then very very limited in quality I assume.
The Movie
Part of a “special” late-nite television program…Four friends on their way to a wedding find themselves marooned on a mysterious farm. Creatures of the night awaken and the undead rise, as a night of relentless horror…Begins! And let me just tell you straight up, it’s bats. That’s not a spoilers, I just don’t want you to think the “creatures” are better than they actually are. Well, bats and infected people…But that’s it damn it!!
I really did dig how the film started out. It kicks off in a style that makes you believe what we are about to see is nothing more than a tale from one of those old school creature feature shows. To make that even better we have the at times awkward acting Tom Noonan as our “Horror Host”. It really sets up a great vibe for the movie and leads you to believe that there’s a lot of promise in what you are about to see. But you know what? Unfortunately the actual film can’t complete this.
When we actually get to the “movie” portion of this movie our old school feel quickly fades and what we are left with is four very bad characters that are dull, whiny, and just not the type of people you can get behind in horrible situations. I don’t think I’d be out of line to say that the characters look like douchebags, the type of douchebags you actually want to see die in horror films. It also doesn’t help that they act like douchebags as well.
But I did find some moments to like in this film. I like the gore when we get it. I do believe Ti’s movies have good gore, they just need more of it. Also the bats do look creepy as all hell at times. I’ve never been much for movies about bats but I think The Roost at least gets that part right. Of course the kicker is anyone who gets bitten by these bats become infected and that sorta gets the movie in a fast moving zombie-like state. Adding both together makes an OKAY plot, just wish it would have been handled better.
And by handled better I don’t just mean the douchebags we have on screen. I mean the movie drags and drags, a problem Mr.West seems to have in the two movies of his I have seen. I think it could do wonders for this film had he just picked up the pace a bit. Instead we are left with people we don’t like in a very slow moving film. One that just so happens to wrapped in a cool Creature Feature format.
The Conclusion
If you just are bored and in need of something to rent or if you just want to see all of Ti West’s work then you may like to see this. If you don’t fall under either of that you could probably live a happy life having never seen The Roost. Not that it’s horrible, it just isn’t anything special either.
The Rating (5/10)
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