Written by John Squires



Dubbed “The Expendables of Horror,” upcoming film Death House has generated a whole lot of excitement here in the horror community, and director Harrison Smith took part in a live Q&A session last night to chat about the flick with fans who are eagerly anticipating its arrival. We watched the whole thing, and pulled out some choice tidbits.

During the Q&A, which was broadcast on the official Death House Facebook page, Smith confirmed our story earlier this week that the film is headed our way in early 2017, noting that it will most likely see release between January and April of next year. A distributor hasn’t yet acquired the rights, as post-production isn’t yet complete, but we have to assume there are several who are hungry to pick it up.

What is Smith’s plan, going forward? He hopes that Death House will launch a massive horror franchise.

“There are five sequels planned,” said the filmmaker. “We have the script for the second one pretty much done, and we’re getting everything ready to really ramp this up for an entire franchise. The way Death House ends, it’s totally set up to further the adventures of [the characters played by actors] Cody Longo and Cortney Palm.”

“We have certain actors from the first film that will return for the sequel,” he also said, adding that he hopes Robert Englund’s schedule will permit him to star in Death House 2. “Do we want Robert in the sequel? Absolutely. And we hope we’ll have him.”

The Death House trailer will premiere at Days of the Dead the weekend of September 2nd.

The cast, which reads like the lineup for the best horror con ever, is the most impressive one ever assembled for a horror film, and it includes Kane Hodder, Tony Todd, Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Michael Berryman, Adrienne Barbeau, Dee Wallace, Barbara Crampton, Lloyd Kaufman, Felissa Rose, Camille Keaton, and even the late Gunnar Hansen.

So what’s the premise? It’s as awesome as the roster of attached talent…

The Death House is the Area 51 of Evil… a subterranean government facility that holds humanity’s worst on nine levels. Hell, Dante’s ninth level, holds the Five Evils… the “dark stars” of Death House. These individuals are so heinous they can never walk among society again. They may also be supernatural.

Agents Toria Boon and Jae Novak have their own dark pasts, arriving at Death House to tour its levels and observe its denizens first-hand as well as the medical and mental experiments of Drs. Eileen Fletcher and Karen Redmane. Their depraved experiments date back to the Nazi doctors of WWII.

Prison cells are virtual reality holo decks that recreate prisoner environments before they were incarcerated. A special hallucinogenic gas keeps inmates under control. The victims are homeless, bused into Death House to play literal victims while killing habits are studied. The results are sick, but only a hint of what goes on here.