Krazy House Review: Demented Horror Comedy Tests Our Patience With Shock Value

At every Sundance Film Festival, there’s always a wacky film that gets movie lovers talking for one reason or another. This year, that film is directing duo Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil’s Krazy House. What begins as a quirky examination of the “man of the house” slowly morphs into an unhinged eruption of mayhem. Starring Nick Frost and Alicia Silverstone, this shocking horror comedy is a train wreck that you can’t look away from. Whether the filmmakers intended this to be the case is a question on its own, but I’m sure Krazy House will acquire a following.

Krazy House

Krazy House is a comedy-horror film written and directed by Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil and was released in 2024. Set in the 1990s, a religious family living in a sitcom-like reality has their world turned upside-down when a group of Russian workers enter their home and take them hostage. Bernie, the homemaker, must step up and save his family while holding on to his sanity.

Pros

• The cast committs to the ridiculousness of the scipt.

Cons

• The script’s examination of masculinity is too timid.
• The film tests the audience’s patience by taking a long time to make anything major occur.
• Haars and Kuil resort to shock value over decent storytelling.
• The artistic gore can’t save the blasphemous & offensive material.

Krazy House Tests Our Patience With Poor Thematic Inquisitions

I can confidently say after watching Haars and Kuil’s English debut that they’ve unleashed one of the most deranged films I have ever seen. Their ’90s sitcom-styled film follows Bernie (Frost), a devout Christian whose clumsiness and awkward behaviors are seemingly part of his charm. Bernie is married to Eva (Silverstone), whose busy career keeps her from looking after their gum-obsessed, boy-crazy daughter Sarah (Gaite Jansen) and their son Adam (Walt Klink), who shows interest in science over religion. Together, the family experience a life-changing week when Russian workers turn up at their house wreaking havoc on their faith-based infrastructure.

There’s an intriguing set-up to the film that initially garners our curiosity. In Bernie, we have a head of the household with very little control over his kids, house functions, and himself. But the one thing he is certain about is his love for Jesus Christ. Bernie’s faith is tested to the max when Piotr (Jan Bijvoet) and his two sons bring the temptation. Unfortunately, it’s also where the script takes a turn for the absolute worse, pushing the limits on the audience’s patience and settling for shock over good storytelling.

Haars & Kuil’s Demented Humor Doesn’t Have An Off Button

The funny thing about this film is that there’s a good concept in it somewhere. But when a 90-minute runtime feels like an eternity, you know mistakes were made along the way. One of those mistakes is how long it actually takes for Bernie to reach his breaking point — and thus, the real meat on the film’s fragile bones. To make matters worse, the script ventures off into the extreme where more subtlety would have been more effective. If nothing else, I have to give kudos to Haars and Kuil for their commitment to risky, demented humor.

The lead-up to the film’s bloodlust was a chore to get through. Even once we’re there, Haars and Kuil push the limits of the film’s silliness. On the brink of agromania, Bernie looks down into a puddle of his own urine to hype up his dark side. In a devilish voice, he convinces himself to “kill them all,” especially after Jesus has seemingly forsaken the family. The line doesn’t end there. The film ramps up the chaos by maximizing the gore and blasphemy, resulting in an offensive sequence of events that doesn’t know when to stop.

Above all else, the most disappointing part about Haars and Kuil’s crossover to English-language filmmaking is failing to execute the enormous potential. When you combine decent ideas and themes with a plethora of shock value, it becomes endless failed entertainment. Though the film can’t seem to pick a lane between sitcom parody, horror comedy, and satire, the cast stays afloat the sinking ship with committed performances. I wouldn’t be surprised if they genuinely had fun making the film. But the reality of its quality is that it’s bottom of the barrel. No devoted cast member could save this foolish crusade.

Suffice it to say, Krazy House is an acquired sour taste. From its surface-level examination of masculinity to its satirical approach and knocking the idea of family sitcoms, this is a film that fires rapidly and misses exponentially. Even after a few walkouts, curiosity got the best of me and forced me to stay. Do I regret it? Not really, but to my dismay, things just kept getting worse. If this twisted sitcom parody ever finds a studio home, I’m sure there it’ll have its fair share of fans — I just won’t be one of them.