REVIEW: House of Whores (2015)

I absolutely love when a movie with a heavy premise doesn’t take itself too seriously, and House of Whores fits that bill perfectly. With directing credits by Daniel Murphy, Tom Homisar, and Paul Arnone, this low-budget home invasion movie perfectly blends some extremely sick and demented torture with trippy, surreal images and, of course, a laugh track.
House of Whores starts off exactly how you’d imagine a film with a title like that to start – with a POV casting call for an adult movie. A guy has placed a local ad looking for women to come to his home and get nasty. We’re introduced, individually, to each of the three girls that have responded to the ad, and get to know them slightly. They are the Three Bears of women who would respond to an ad like that – the first-timer, who is too shy to even remove her shirt, the girl who is mostly just looking for a payday and is willing to try something out, and the token slut, who doesn’t mind that she might not get paid as long as she gets some.
The introductions last only a few short minutes before the action begins. There’s a knock at the door and three clowns burst in, immediately taking over the house. They knock out the pornographer, drag him to the back, and bring in one of the girls, who they proceed to make rape the now tied-up man. The violence only escalates from there, with more rape, forced cunnilingus, cheese-shredder penis mutilation, and a death via skill saw to the vagina.
If all of that sounds brutal, it is. But throughout all of this, the filmmakers never take it seriously. Even while torturing the people in the house, we’re made to laugh at their antics. A laugh track during the first forced rape came as a surprise and – just as they’re intended to do – triggered a laugh. Quick cuts and ‘instant replay’-style editing, complete with fart sounds and honking clown noses noises, almost downplays the extreme violence. Palatability for an extremely non-palatable scenario.
We’re never treated to who these masked clowns really are, lead to assume that they’re just maniacal killers – but that’s okay. The story is light on the motivation, but heavy on the gore, which is just what you’d want from such a low-down, dirty kind of film. Plenty of T&A are mixed in with other ridiculous scenes, such as the clowns forcing a girl to make them breakfast – TOAST! – which we get to watch in an almost accurate timing of how long it takes to make some. Then the breakfast is plopped down in individually labeled brown paper bags, like they’re headed off to school for the day.
Featuring graphic depictions of violence, SOV-style cinematography, and even some silent-film era style comedy, this movie was very well put together for an extremely low-budget film. House of Whores is a demented, hilarious, and extremely twisted take on the home invasion genre.

Most Popular Review