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Thomas Mann stars in Our House, about a college whiz kid who accidentally invents a device that awakens spirits.Elevation

  • Title: Our House
  • Written by: Nathan Parker (based on the film Ghost from the Machine, by Matt Osterman)
  • Directed by: Scott Burns
  • Starring: Thomas Mann, Percy Hynes White and Kate Moyer
  • Classification: 14A; 90 minutes

Rating:

2 out of 4 stars

A college whiz kid and his girlfriend sneak into a science lab to test wireless electricity. She tells him the “readings are all wrong,” but he keeps boosting the signal. Circuits blown and a campus darkened, the two flee the lab. That’s the start of Our House, a so-so remake of the low-budget 2010 film Ghost from the Machine that comes off as run-of-the-mill paranormal thriller. No electricity, one might say. Things get worse for the would-be inventor (played by Thomas Mann) when his parents die in a car accident, forcing him to quit school to look after his younger brother and sister. He still has time to fiddle with his electromagnetic gear, which never does what it’s supposed to do, but does animate the energy of the dead. Little Becca (who’s about the right size to fit into a television if, say, she was watching the Steven Spielberg-written Poltergeist) communicates with the deceased parents. Unfortunately, waking some other (inky, quivering) spirits is a mistake. Better to leave the past behind is the message director Scott Burns himself ignores. Trying to improve on a rough-cut original, he fails to account for the ghost in the machine.

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