‘Play House’ Review: Growing Up Has Never Been So Scary [Fantastic Fest]

Growing up sucks. And growing up in the 21st century sucks more than any of us could have possibly imagined. Capitalism has us in a chokehold. Fascism is exponentially on the rise. And forget about buying a house. To put it bluntly, it’s bleak out there, and Nicholas Curcio captures that in his feature film debut, Play House. But Curcio also knows that in the darkness, there is plenty of light, even if it feels impossible to see. He and his co-writer Kirby Gladstein tap into that complicated experience of surviving this bleak reality to craft a deeply affecting horror experience that’s both haunting and life-affirming in one fell swoop. 

The film opens on Elliot (Will Harrison), a 20-something-year-old man who recently got out of a relationship and is grieving his dead mom. In an attempt to try and prove something to himself and his ex, Cath (Jessica Sulla), he does what any sane young adult does: he buys a house. There are plenty of jokes about buying a house in this economy (sadly, Elliot is able to afford the house thanks to money left to him after his mom’s recent passing), but at least the house he buys is the epitome of a fixer-upper. The carpets reek, the walls are covered in dirt, the hot water heater is busted, and just about everything needs to be fixed or totally replaced.  

Thanks to some help from his best friend, Alden (Jordan Gonzalez), and a rekindled spark with Cath, Elliot starts chipping away at renovations. But quickly, Elliot discovers this house harbors quite a few secrets. Under the aforementioned busted water heater, he discovers a bag of old VHS tapes. Despite not owning a VCR, the media-collecting Alden does, and he graciously lets Elliot borrow his beloved CRT TV with a built-in VCR. On this tiny, grainy screen, Elliot enters the world of Mr. Morton’s Monster Alley, a strange children’s show hosted by the titular Mr. Morton (James Urbaniak) with his cast of off-putting puppets based on horror creatures. 

But there’s something else off about the puppets. They’re voiced by children, but the children sound exhausted. There’s no denying that something is sinister at play here, and that’s only compounded by the fact that Elliot can’t find anything about this show online. As Alden and Cath are drawn into the mystery, strange things start happening around the house and whatever lurks in the basement starts to creep up toward the light. To say anymore would spoil the film’s experience, but suffice to say, this isn’t just another story about an analog horror nightmare coming to life. No, there is something much more real and inherently evil at the core, here, and James Urbaniak embodies that with chilling perfection.