Five swimsuit models, three intruders, one house, and a duffel bag full of zip ties and duct tape. These components make Model House – a taut home invasion movie whose primary strength is in its simplicity.
Trudy (Hailee Keanna Lautenbach), Sydney (Natalie Nootenboom), Nadia (Kyra Santoro), Zoe (Cory Anne Roberts) and Carla (Priscilla Huggins Ortiz) hole up in a remote house while on a shoot. Between rounds of sniping and hot tub-dipping, the ladies are interrupted when a gang of masked intruders come knocking on the door. The plan? To extort money from the ladies’ followers on social media. This simple plan inevitably goes awry with the arrival of a creepy neighbour and, later, temperamental gang member Flip (Phillip Andre Botello).
It’s a simple premise, slickly executed by writer and director Derek Pike – largely eschewing the male-gazey cheesecake it could have been in favour of something altogether darker and grittier. The budget feels low, but the house is well-shot by cinematographer David Keninger, and the performances are solid across the board, including at least one genre mainstay in Scout Taylor-Compton (Halloween ’07 and its sequel). Its leading five are a varied bunch, given distinct personalities and purpose in the writing and spirited performances.
True, those familiar with the subgenre will find few real surprises here – even as tempers fray and blood is shed, it follows a fairly predictable trajectory – but it makes effective use of the home invasion template. A crime thriller staple done slickly, efficiently, and with sufficient poise.
MODEL HOUSE is out on digital and in select US cinemas on April 5th
