The House of Adam (2006) User Reviews

Not all bad ,....just most of it!

[texastimbob · 3/10 · 30 June 2010]

This movie had the potential to be a great movie, however, it is not. The best part of this movie, and the part that kept me watching, was the actor that played Anthony (John Shaw). His acting wasn't the best but talking about a hunk! This guy is beautiful! Woof! Without giving away the plot ( was there just one???) I will say that one of the worst things about this movie is the sound quality. Whoever did the sound for this movie was either new or deaf. Also the story lines were glued together however without any attempt to make it flow. Even the love story wasn't developed in a way that love could be seen between the two main men in the movie. It was an attempt and even if it made it to the glitter awards in 2006, it sure could have been a lot better!

Great love scene . . . little else

[starwalker · 1/10 · 8 August 2009]

Notwithstanding that "The House of Adam" is meant to be a mainstream gay movie; that Anthony (John Shaw), who is gay curious and a major cutie-hunk and Adam (Jared Cadwell) who is openly gay, and a close second in looks; that there is a whole minute of wonderful, convincing, and naked lovemaking (sorry, no frontal) between Anthony and Adam 41 minutes into the movie (that alone may be sufficient for many of us) --- notwithstanding all that (to which I give a thumbs up), "The House of Adam" is a horrible movie by most any other movie making standard. A big thumbs down.

Shaw's and Cadwell's acting abilities are either sophomoric or else truly suffer from the bad script, direction, and editing, or rather the lack thereof. Their lovemaking scene is nevertheless convincing, and may have more to do with their really being into each other, considering the rest of their scripting and acting.

Writer-director Jorge Amer's (Bonus Feature) self-congratulation as to his movie making skills is off the wall.

So, the script and lack thereof is a thumbs down. Overall, the acting is thumbs down with just the slightest exception for Shaw and Cadwell. Alexis Karriker as Nina might have been the best except for the limitations expressed above. Far and away the absolute worst, and insufferable, acting was by Thomas Michael Kappier as Albert Ross, Anthony's father having not even of elementary school acting quality. He truly represents a colossal casting failure.

The actors playing the new cabin owners are worthy of truly bad acting nominations as well.

If only the production, editing and post production were as good as the trailer, this movie would have been quite something else. The trailer presents well put together clips of scenes that drew me into renting the movie in the first place. That, and the hope that this gay-centered movie, was supposedly prominently played and touted at gay film festivals.

Overall, the movie is a big thumbs down.

Is it worth buying/renting and watching it? Only if you have an irresistible yen to see the naked love making scene, and a few minutes of semi-convincing dialogue between Anthony and Adam. Or if you truly just enjoy watching bad movies.

Hilarious -- One of the funniest Waters-esquire films I've ever seen.

[jonfernald · 24 April 2006]

I just saw this film on Saturday evening (4-22-06) as part of the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival being held here in Palm Desert. I didn't know what to expect and was disappointed that the sound quality was so poor when the film began. The sound quality never improved. It didn't much matter since the dialogue was poor and the acting was even worse. The quality of this film was so uniformly poor, that one could only assume it was intentional and that this was a conscious decision to make the film so funny. The stilted dialogue and extremely amateur acting, not to mention the poor sound and filming quality were a bit reminiscent of John Water's early films. Actually, this was the film JW might have made when experimenting as a teenager. I have to say that in spite of its flaws (or because of them), I enjoyed the film a lot. I haven't laughed that hard at a film in a very long time. The people who were seated near me all had one question on their mind at the end of the film: Did the film's creator intend to make a comedy with this film? It didn't seem so since the film took itself so seriously. Anyway, I enjoyed it very much, even though it was probably not in the way the director intended.

Movies like this make me cringe to be a gay man.

[Markyajv · 1/10 · 24 February 2009]

First and foremost I am a gay man, although do not live my life within the so called "Community", and it's because of films like this that Gay themed movies are not my favorite genre because 90% of them are crap. Like this one. f I could give this a zero I would. (I do not understand all the positive comments, unless they were all made by people who made this film) I actually stopped this at the 24 minute mark when the so called straight "Anthony" kissed Adam outside the restaurant for NO reason at all. And how is the son stealing from the diner if he doesn't even live in the town? Wire transfers? The acting was HORRENDOUS! The sound editing? (Listen to "Anthony" and Adam when they are sitting on the fence eating their lunch. Every time the camera switched between the two so called actors the sound changes, like there was not a filter on the microphone)Seriously do not rent, or god forbid, buy this movie.Horrible Horrible Horrible acting and just a stupid storyline.

omg!

[imdb-452-122459 · 1/10 · 10 March 2019]

Do not watch this movie. Maybe Jorge Ameer's follow up movies built on experience he derived from this one.

Warning! this movie is a shocker.

[tricky22 · 1/10 · 19 February 2009]

Hi guys, this is my first review and I would had to have picked the worst movie to review. As I only watched 5 minutes of it but trust me you could see this movie was going nowhere. The acting was deplorable, the camera work and lighting looked as though it was shot and run by a pack of 10 year old's. No offence to 10 year olds.I just couldn't take anymore I got off my couch, took the The House of Adam DVD out of the DVD player and threw it in the garbage. Maybe if you are a Colin Farrell fan this movie may interest you, because the character in the movie, Anthony, is a Colin Farrell look a like. But that is as far as it goes, he certainly will never have col's acting abilities. I gave this movie a rating of 1 (awful) only because there were no minuses in the drop down list cheers.

Absolutely Fabulous - a tongue in cheek dark drama

[jasonmckensey · 10/10 · 24 April 2006]

This film was presented as the centerpiece film at Reelpride this past Saturday at the Cinema D'or. First, I must comment on the projection. From the beginning the sound and image were awful!!!. I left the auditorium within minutes of the film's beginning to complain about the sound. The sound was really bad!. That is when I was told that the speakers in the theatre had blown out. The sound was so distorted, I was hard to hear what was happening. Every time the sound peaked in the movie it got distorted. This is something, also with the projection, that I will blame the festival for. There were other films that I saw earlier at the festival that had the same type of sound problem. By the time I saw this one, It was hard to understand anything. Anyways, back to the film. The film was fabulous. The director is very insightful. I really enjoyed the directors tongue in cheek dark humor that you don't usually see in a thriller...Even though I would refer to this film as more of a drama with thriller elements towards the end. The tongue in cheek humor I found it in the irony of what was happening when the wife is telling the detective who previously lived at the cabin she now owns what happened to the previous cabin owners not knowing she was taking care of him...very clever! Also, I thought it was a riot when the wife hits the detective with her car and tells her husband she must call him back. There was a sassy campiness to the film that gave this thriller a certain light edge to it even though I found the material to be heavy. I liked the actors (Antony and Adam actors). The writing was quick and witty. The nina character in the film was very annoying. She was so annoying it's not too difficult to comprehend why her husband would leave her for another man. Since the projection of the image and sound were so poor (it was projected digitally) it was hard to tell how good, or not so good, were the production values. I liked the story a lot. It was very entertaining. The filmmaker should continue with this style of film-making. I like it. He deals with some very heavy subject matter here but handles it in a way (dark comedic tongue in cheek) that you can't help to laugh at the absurdity of situations some people put themselves into in real life. I applaud the filmmaker for that and look forward to seeing more of his work.

Very profound and moving love story

[raymoneo · 10/10 · 16 September 2006]

A good loving moving story that moves at a good pace, packs a punch and delivers. Mr. Ameer continues to improve his directorial skills with another fine production to add to his ongoing growth. House of Adam is a wonderful, compelling story line with a strong moral agenda. The body shots of the two male actors are alluring and provocative yet artistically balanced. The cast is very attractive and appealing. Good casting. Thumbs Up! The story is very intricate and emotional with a very gratifying ending. There is justice to the ending. I felt vindicated after what was done to the Adam character. Overall, The House of Adam will be a love story to remember for a very long time.

good thrills

[kenholloway · 10/10 · 14 April 2006]

For a modestly budgeted film (even though it was well realized), I found the House of Adam to be very good. The sound design is good, specially in the second half of the film and during the jolt moments. However,you will really enjoy the second half of the film for I feel like the first half is where the story is just getting started. Unlike most horror films and thrillers where folks just get slashed and you have nothing invested in them, this one crawls under your skin to get you emotionally involved with the characters (Adam)...then the brutal killing happens. I've never seen a film where the protagonist gets killed with a bible. This is a first. The filmmaker here takes you in one direction then cleverly winds you up another road. At the half of the film, you just don't know what's going to happen. I liked that. I hope this film does well with audiences when it comes out. However because of the religious overtones, I see how some may get offended.

Excellent!!!

[jeancarloslondon · 10/10 · 8 January 2006]

I saw this movie at a special screening in Panama. This movie is excellent because even though it is something that the Latin American public is not used to seeing it was very well received thanks to the theme of the film that everyone can relate to, the universal theme of love taken for granted. The way it was made was tasteful and non-pornographic, but it was very artistic and it showed situations that could very well happen daily. The beginning how they place the viewer from a far, and then in the climax is when the film starts to interact with the viewer is what fascinated me. After watching the movie twice, what I really loved was when in a very frightening moment, Adam scares the newlywed husband, Mark while he was sleeping making him think that his wife was being intimate with him but it was actually a ghostly encounter. It made for a very creative moment. The sound effects flawlessly followed the scary moments which were very much enhanced and riveting. The movie is made by a Panamanian director who grew up here and this is not the kind of movie we are used to watching but I applaud him for the high production values. You can see it was very well thought out and it was not just made to appease the financiers. I highly recommend this movie to all the Latin American public when it opens in theatres here in Panama and in central America for which, based on the enormous amount of press it got here it should be opening soon. I have never seen any one film get the amount of press this movie got here in Panama. The film is currently being promoted at the best cinema here in this country and I cant wait for it to open here to see the audience reaction. Another great point to this movie is that is has an awesome story. It is very original and very atypical from what you would usually see in other films.

HOT MOVIE! Lead Actor a young Colin Farrel!

[videoeric · 10/10 · 26 October 2006]

I have seen The House of Adam a couple of times, and thoroughly enjoyed the film. The Star of this film, is a dead ringer for a young version of Colin Farrel, extremely sexy, and totally believable in his character. I do not understand those that would give this film a "low rating." It is known that at times, competitive Producers will use this tactic to "bang" someone else's work, and I think this is unfair, as well as unprofessional. This work should be admired for what it is, a fine film with a very "HOT!" new face in Hollywood. The world of Independent films is a tough enough road, without others trying to berate a good production. I would recommend this film to anyone, and I look forward to the release on Home Video DVD!

Mixed genres

[jeanpaularnaut · 10/10 · 11 August 2006]

I've been a champion of independent films for years. I liked this film it so much I felt the need to comment on it. I read the reviews on this site and notice most have different reason why they liked or dislike the film. First, I must say taking into consideration this was probably done on a modest budget, the production values are okay. The cinematography is very good. Now to the story. I found it to be well written and original. The writing is strong and to the point. The lead characters are well fleshed out. It has several moving moments that probably works well enough to squeeze a tear or two out of the viewer. The acting of the females in this picture was not the best, as a matter a fact, I thought it was pretty raw, but passable. The main actors were very good. I can see them going on to do great things, specially the guy that plays Antony. He had a natural yet striking presence. He has lead written all over and he commands attention. This is one of those film that has so many genres mixed in it, you are better off sitting back and going for the ride.

Revealing thriller

[sa040315 · 10/10 · 9 April 2006]

This film was good because it reveals how religion sees the relationship between homosexuals and how they interact. Scriptures from the bible quoted during the movie along with judgemental attitudes that you see mainly in society these days, show the wrong approach to winning people over to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came for the people who needed to fill a void on the inside of their lives. Not to persecute, judge or criticize, but to reconcile us to the love of God. I am the body of Christ and Satan has no power over me for I overcome evil with good."I Corinthians 12:27", Romans 12:21. In the movie we see how they killed a human being who is a child of God because of the way he thought and loved. That is not the way to win people over to Cristianity. You may not agree with someones lifestyle but it did not give those guys any right to do any harm to Adam. In the movie we see how Adam suffered and was delivered from the evil ones of this present world for it was the will of God. (Galatians 1:4) We also see how Anthony overcame the death of his friend. According to God we overcome by the word of the testimony and the blood of the lamb. (Revelations 12:12) Anthony had great peace within him once he found closure to the situation. Great peace thought by God and reinforce by the friends he found during his journey.(The newlyweds) Isaiah 54:13 We also see in the film how spirits will try to overwhelm and produce fear in us but we see in Helen the spirit of God comforting her. (Psalms 23:4)

very enjoyable/entertaining

[charlespirone · 10/10 · 28 April 2006]

I hardly ever post comments on this site but after watching this film at Reelpride and attending a very intense q & a this past Saturday, I thought I'd add my comments. I stayed after the Q and A and spoke to the director at the after party. Many who stayed, those who might have had a problem with the film, made their voices heard. However, I noticed when I approached the director several people who were at the Q & A told him how much they enjoyed it. I noticed those same people didn't say much during the Q & A. From what I understood, the film was projected on video because its still a work in progress. I can't wait to see the finished film projected on film. I found this film to be very intuitive, original and fun. It is without question dark and disturbing. The acting was very good. I specially liked the editing and cinematography. The sound in the theatre was poor. There were volume distortions with films shown throughout this festival. I applaud the filmmaker for his efforts and for his dark and interesting insight on life. We share the same outlook ;P. I definitely recommend this film.

Haunting love story

[thrillerseeker · 10/10 · 14 March 2006]

This is the kind of movie that you will be thinking of days after you have seen it. When I first saw it, I was in awe by the beautiful scenery/cinematography and very moved by the story. However I did not quite see it for much of a thriller. To me, it was more of a love story. It almost reminds me of "Brokeback Mountain" with the difference that there is no names in this film but the message is the same. It's about love taken for granted. However, this story is told with a twist. Here there are supernatural overtones to the story and it gets scary towards the end for the newlywed couple. The story pretty much follows Anthony as he tries to deal with his demons as he must confront his father about money he's been stealing to attend detective school. Upon his father's request for a visit, he meets Adam, a young poor small town kid working for his father at a diner. Both strike up a friendship for different reasons. We quickly feel the chemistry between both characters upon them meeting each other. This is the kind of small town that we would find in middle America, somewhere like Kentucky where there are religious fascist trying to force their religious beliefs on everyone. Unfortunately,this is what will ultimately end up killing Adam. For the newlywed couple who has the unfortunate luck to move into this haunted house, they begin to experience signs from beyond the grave. I found this film to be inventive and original. It's a very suspenseful love story. It's got a good cross over potential. The gay love story is prominent throughout the film, but the film does have a message everyone can relate to. This is a movie that would make a great conversation over coffee after seeing it. I highly recommend it. Apparently the story is based on a true story. I am very curious to know what actually happened and where.