In 2010 Fantasia Film Festival screened Ghost from the Machine also known as Phasma Ex Machina (2010). In 2018 director Anthony Scott Burns modernized the story of the Our House movie with a remake. The characters and feel of the original film turn into something completely new for the next generation of moviegoers to enjoy.
New VS Old (Our House VS Phasma Ex-Machina)
Reboots and remakes happen a lot. I see a lot of audiences complain about them and others champion them.
For me, the Our House movie is more a reimaging than a remake. The original premise is there but the differences between the two films are not subtle. The family dynamic is different. The structure is different, storyline details are added and taken away between the two films. More importantly, the ghosts are two entirely different concepts as is the narrative of determining how the machine came to be.
Is Our House a film that not only pays homage to the original but also spins into an original concept?
Did director Anthony Scott Burns elevate the original idea and theme into an adaptation worthy of its conceptual 80’s Amblin Entertainment Films influence?
What’s Our House About? It’s a Remake of Phasma Ex-Machina
Our House is a horror/drama about Ethan Lightman, a university student, and a genius working on an experimental machine that could change the world. When tragedy strikes he is forced to move home and raise his siblings.
Eventually, Ethan begins working on his machine again, and once turned on, strange things begin to happen around the house. Are their parents communicating from the other side?
Our House Movie Review
In a director’s statement from Anthony Scott Burns, he talks about wanting the story for this film to feel like a natural progression of Amblin Films from the ’80s.
“— Realistic youth-driven tales wrapped in entertainment. It’s about real people with real problems without infallible hunks or barbie dolls on screen.
Anthony Scott Burns
— A harsh parable about understanding and not fearing change.
— It’s vital that we not just emulate the films we grew up loving but make something wholly original with the same level of the heart.”
And with that in mind, “Our House 2018” is very special. You don’t need to watch the original film Ghost From the Machine to appreciate Our House. It stands on its own two feet and takes a cool idea about the machine invented to create wireless electricity which ends up being something that breaks barriers between the dead and the living.
The dynamic of the family is relatable on a base level pinning its hopes on the ability to contact their recently deceased parents. It hooks you into a world where you champion different outcomes as it goes along. It begins looking like a mild ghost story with tiny little events that don’t mean anything except to the players within the story. When the shift begins in the film, sympathy for their situation takes over. Who wouldn’t believe in ghosts if they could tell you they were there?
Specters and Horror Tropes – A Remake
I loved the way the specters were developed and some genuinely creepy moments somehow managed to make the hairs on my arms stand up. Stories about ghosts always do that to me. As the movie progressed in the second half, there were a few small gimmicky tropes that took some of the shine away. I’m not averse to horror tropes though and it certainly didn’t affect the movie as a whole. The cast as an ensemble worked well and I connected with the performances from each.
Added depth to the story came from some neighborhood secrets thrown in. These were similar but not the same as the original film and well placed. Optimizing the family unit and having two siblings instead of one also created an extra layer of unity which was probably missing with the duo of Cody and James from Phasma.
Overall the reimaging of Ghost from the Machine is for me a successful one, with both films being completely watchable and enjoyable. I predicted the ending, but if you don’t it might just place a cherry on top of this already great film. For me, I liked the newer version just a smidgen more.
I give Our House
4 ghosts who mimic Psycho out of 5
Our House 2018
Our House is streaming on:
Movie Homages to 80’s Films You Might Have Caught
- Ethan wears a red sweater which is the same as the one from E.T.
- The floor in the kitchen is the same as the floor in Twin Peaks.
