Dir. Niko Volonakis (2024)
A journalist investigates the death of a young artist, coming to believe it might be related to a series of murders from the past.
The unreliable narrator is a trope that has been used in horror films since the very beginning, and when done correctly, it's a great way to throw the audience off-balance and helps to heighten the drama and suspense in non-traditional ways. Unreliable narrators are often essential to creating a good psychological horror, because by placing the audience into the mind of its characters, we can experience a point-of-view that we otherwise would never be able to see. It can be a bit of a crutch at times, however, the ultimate cover-up of plotholes that hand-wave away legitimate problems of structure and narrative. In Lyvia's House, the new psychological mystery horror from Greek-American director Niko Volonakis, the unreliable narrator is the entire point, as the audience is given a front-row seat to a woman's fight between madness and reality.
Tara (Tara Nichol Caldwell) has just moved in with her boyfriend Johnny (Joshua Malekos), who just purchased a house six hours away from the life Tara has been living as a journalist. The new house doesn't have wi-fi or cellphone service, isolating Tara from her friends and family. When one of the townspeople turns up dead, Tara begins to suspect that the new murder may be related to a series of killings that occurred twenty years before. As she begins to question her sanity, seeing everything from rats to dead bodies, Tara tries to unravel the secrets of the past in order to save herself from undergoing the same fate as the house's previous owner.
Lyvia's House is incredibly well-done psychological horror, owing much of its success to its callbacks to other genre favorites that came before. In fact, there's even one specific reference to the 1944 classic Gaslight, a bit of a tell as to what is coming in the rest of the film. Caldwell is excellent in the lead role (even playing a dual role as the mysterious Lyvia), and Malekos is likewise fantastic as her new beau. The mystery elements of the film are handled perfectly, and while it would be easy for a film like this to pull some third-act shockers that come out of nowhere, everything that happens is set up throughout the film. That doesn't seem like a lot to ask, but readers have probably seen enough to know that it's still a rare accomplishment in a genre filled with less-than-stellar films.
There are a couple of gripes to be had, despite the film's excellent craftsmanship. It's overly long, running just under two hours, and probably could've eliminated a good bit of the lead-up to come in about a half hour shorter. The score is also overbearing, with seemingly every scene being filled with a loud and ominous soundtrack that is often unnecessary to the scene. Sometimes, less is more, and Lyvia's House could have used a little bit of restraint in that department. The supernatural elements of the film work very well, but they also kinda come out of nowhere in the third act. It would've been nice to have these pieces set up as well as the psychological elements, because what is there is pretty haunting and complements the rest of the film well.
Thankfully, there's much more to love here than there is to critique. It's a good film, and everything other than the pacing (and a few looser ends) is well done. The cinematography from Cody Martin is excellent, and writer Patricia V. Davis provides a fantastic script for the story. The pacing is surprisingly good for such a long film, and while I think some of it could have been left out, it does tell a full story that comes together pretty well. All in all, Lyvia's House is a great indie psychological thriller that is well worth a watch. If you're a fan of movies like Gaslight and The Innocents, this one will be right up your alley.
Who this movie is for: Indie horror nuts, Psychological horror fans, Tortured artists
Bottom line: Lyvia's House is well-crafted suspense with quite a bit of psychological horror thrown in. It's not overtly scary and it's a bit long, but it's an excellent film nonetheless. Stars Caldwell and Malekos are excellent, and director Niko Volonakis does a great job of bringing the whole story together. If you're a fan of films with unreliable narrators, or psychological suspense films in general, you'll probably really enjoy this one.
