If you can’t tell by the title of this entire blog, I love Tommy Wiseau. As a massive fangirl of The Room I was elated to hear that he was making another film, albeit a short one, and trying his hand at horror. The teaser trailers were both vague and said nothing further about the plotline, but having seen it now I can safely say that the title basically is the plotline.
Seriously. It’s a house. It drips blood on a dude named Alex. The end.
The big question many people were asking was, “Is Tommy now in on the fact that people like The Room because it’s bad?” My response to that is, “Um, sort of, I guess?” A lot of the dialogue attempts to be humorous, but Tommy or whoever wrote the script was trying way too hard to make it funny and it sometimes falls flat. Not to say that it didn’t make me chuckle in some parts, but it seems like he’s trying to take what made The Room so delightful, then putting similar elements into The House That Drips Blood on Alex and saying, “See? I get it too, guys!” Not quite, Tommy.
I also need to note that Tommy totally looks like Michael Jackson in the music video/short film for his song “Ghost.” I kept waiting for Tommy to ask someone “Tell me are you the ghost of jealousy?” and rip off his skin and start moonwalking. Seriously, it is so uncanny I could not get through this post without mentioning it.
Anyway, a bit about the plot. Note that I’m going to tell you the basics of the beginning of the film, so if you don’t want to know any aspect of it, you might want to skip the next paragraph.
The film is told by Creepy Old Guy (also played by Tommy) to two girls who are supposed to be teenagers but are obviously in their mid-20s before a horror movie at a theater. The basic gist of the plot is that a guy named Alex buys a house that is conveniently located on Three Blood Street (except “blood” is pronounced so it rhymes with “glued” – LOL TOMMY, YOU CARD, YOU). The evil realtor is Joel S. Greco, also known as, “That guy who hosted Cheaters.” He’s amazing in every second of the 3 or 4 minutes he’s in this film. So anyway, Alex signs the contract (IN BLOOD! OMG!!1!!!!!11111!one!!11!!!) and moves in with the help of his friend, Thomas (who also has the most incredible eyelashes I have ever seen). Thomas is pretty bro-tacular, if you know what I mean, and at one point disturbingly utters the line “Cowabunga dude, let’s do it.” As they’re sitting in the house talking about Alex’s mother’s favorite potholder, Thomas notices some blood on Alex’s shirt. Alex, of course, dismisses it. I won’t spoil the rest of the film for you, but that’s the general feel of the first few minutes.
Is it funny? Yes, but not in the same way that The Room is. The filmmaking is better, or at least I didn’t notice any blue screens or out-of-focus shots. The acting is still pretty dreadful, but Tommy may have improved a bit, unless the Dayquil I just took is screwing with me. The dialogue, as I mentioned before, tries really, really hard to be funny but sometimes just elicits facepalms and groans. I’d say the humor aspect of The House That Drips Blood on Alex is similar to that of Snakes on a Plane: It’s not supposed to be taken seriously and wants you to laugh at it. Whether people will laugh at it as much as they laughed at The Room remains to be seen.
I personally don’t think anything Tommy will do from here on out will be as much of a cult hit as The Room. Of course, I could be totally wrong and Tommy could create something ridiculously amazing (“The Neighbors” could be that something, if the trailer is any indication). The House That Drips Blood On Alex is good, but the fact that he’s actually trying to be funny takes some of the fun out of it.
Watch it, and see what you think about it.
Tags: hilarity, movies, reviews, the house that drips blood on alex, the room, tommy wiseau
Gotta disagree with the camerawork being better. The director of this either had no idea how the 180 degree rule works or decided to just ignore the rules and make a film that doesn’t make sense.
Annnd now I realize that Wiseau directed this and not Studio8. Apparently he got worse at directing….
I doubt Tommy even knows that there are rules/generally accepted guidelines to film-making. I think he just grabs a camera and starts doing stuff. Assuming he directed this one, that is.