The House At The End Of Time is touted as being the first feature length horror-thriller from Venezuela...and it is that country's highest grossing film of all time.

It tells the story of a woman named Dulce, based on the experiences she has after moving into a house with a dark history.

Basically, the house had sat abandoned for years, only to see the government seize it and offer to a family in need.

Enter Dulce and her family.

They move into the house, only to start experiencing eerie phenomenon.

Then, one night, they are attacked by ghosts: an old man carrying a knife, and a young boy, at least.

We follow from the perspective of Dulce, who wakes up bleeding on the ground...only to find her husband stabbed...and watch her son be seized away into the darkness.

For this, she is arrested. Because there is no evidence that anyone else was ever in the house...and she can't explain the dead body and missing boy.

Fast forward 30 years later, and Dulce (now an elderly woman) has been released from prison and returned to her home.

She is under protective custody, but is adamant that she wants to find her child. So she illicits the help of the local priest.

He is able to offer her moral and psychological support, but the police won't let him hang around long enough to help otherwise. So, she is left to deal with things on her own.

And this is where it starts to get trippy.

She begins to experience the events from that fateful day in her past again...but from the other side.

Effectively making her the ghost that has been haunting her past self.

And as the story continues, you slowly start to realize...that her and her family have become lost souls...trapped in time...living out their torment cyclically, forever.

Which might seem horrific, if there wasn't a couple of light-hearted- and extremely clever- twists at the end.

This film is expertly constructed in a circular fashion. And the second half acts as a mirror image of the first (in reverse).

In this sense, it works a lot like Oculus. In that it is an engaging puzzler, whose direction shifts drastically, as you get deeper into the film and are provided with more context.

And that is what makes this film so damn enjoyable.

It's not too complex either. It's really easy to follow, which leaves it accessible to more mainstream audiences.

This is a great film that you should definitely check out.

Not only does it scare you...it establishes Hidalgo as a master manipulator.

Definitely see this...and don't wait for the remake.

7.5 out of 10.

Okay, I'm no part Venezuelan.

It's a good film. American audiences, take it for what it is, a low budget film from a small film industry. Yes, it has weakpoints, but also strengths.

Pros: innovative plot twists, well filmed. Cons: Slow starter, overdramatizing music gives away some surprises, a few connections are contrived. Overall: A good twist on a psychological pensive ghost story.

Who might like this? It's a little old school, like Gaslight, with some of the Spanish style, like Del Toro's Devil's Backbone. A touch of The Others, not as polished, but if you like those films, and are looking for something else, this would be a good one to watch.

ps.

To reviewers & commenters : Don't knock countries. Americans love European & Mexican movies. We're not latinophobes. Key? Subtlety. It's much more powerful if a twist happens and we almost miss it, and then wham, it's there. Just like some day noticing "oh, huh, they're from Venezuela."

This needed saying because of the number of comments on the topic comments and reviews. I know funding is hard to come by for major projects in Venezuela, so kudos, keep it up. I look forward to future results.

Terrible things happen in Dulce's house in 1981; such terrible things that she has been in prison ever since. In 2011, now an old woman, Dulce is the beneficiary of a boon from the Venezuelan government - she is allowed to leave the prison, but she must remain on house arrest (complete with armed guards outside 24/7), in the very house where those terrible events occurred. And now it seems that they are about to occur again, and again, and again....

I don't want to say much at all about this film because its power comes from its unexpected twists and turns and things we, the audience, never saw coming. I don't like scary movies much because, well, I don't like being scared - and this one definitely scared me, there were at least half a dozen times when I jumped in my seat (and perhaps screamed a little)! But I ended up really loving this film, in part because of the way it unfolds and in part because of the very fine acting, by Ruddy Rodriguez as Dolce especially, but also including Gonzalo Cubero as her husband Juan Jose, Rosmel Bustamente as her son Leo and (the very handsome) Hector Mercado as the local priest. My only quibble has to do with the fact that all the rooms in the house are always kept locked, whether family members are in them or not; I didn't quite understand that. But if you're looking for a very classy "supernatural thriller," you wouldn't go wrong by choosing to search this one out; truly excellent!