House of Darkness
House of Darkness
Hap offers Mina a ride home with ulterior motives, but his night takes a turn when he learns she lives in a creepy American castle...and the shadowy figures in the corridors make it clear that he isn't welcome.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 6, 2025
On the same day Barbarian, releases in theaters Justin Long has another film release on streaming and I swear it’s the same character. He’s pretty great at playing this sort of douchey, egocentric schlub. Hap (Long) meets Mina (Kate Bosworth) in a bar and does the typical “nice guy” move of giving her a ride home. When she invites him in, he gets a little more than he bargained for. It’s pretty obvious from the outset what mysterious Mina’s true story actually is. Even still this film isn‘t quite what I expected. It doesn’t really dive too deeply into horror, save for the last shot. The film is almost entirely conversations between Mina and Hap as she rips apart his misogynistic attitudes via simply by asking him clarifying questions and letting his own words and worldview hang himself. It’s a thematically interesting film, but there’s not really ever a ton happening on screen aside from Justin Long squirming in his sear. So it’s a decent film to have on in the background. Bosworth is magnetic, though, and I had a good time with this.