The first House film combined horror with comedy whereas House II attained a PG rating to attract a younger audience and went more for comedy vibe rather than one of horror. The question was, which way would House III go? Well, quite simply, the R rating is a good indication that the comedy has been done away with. The first thing learned with this series is to not expect any form of continuity and House III doesn’t disappoint.

This time around the story focuses on Detective Lucas McCarthy (Lance Henriksen). He was responsible for the capture of mass murderer Max Jenke (Brion James) and is plagued by nightmares involving the killer. To try and alleviate the insanity the dreams are causing, McCarthy attends the execution of Jenke by electric chair. Jenke finally dies at the hand of the executioner but swears revenge on McCarthy. Through supernatural powers Jenke takes residence in the basement of the McCarthy’s house and plots the death of the man responsible for his capture, along with his family.

The fact that the killer is now occupying the house of McCarthy is the only relevance to the other House films. This film was in fact only known as The Horror Show to US viewers, so one has to question why it is here at all. Although it bears no resemblance to its predecessors it is still an enjoyable horror romp. A rather buff looking Lance Henriksen (Aliens) is a quality actor and plays his role well, as does Brion James as the evil Jenke. The story line is a little predictable, but most horror films are. This film does at least offer some new ideas to make it interesting. The film is generally dated, but still offers quite a few scares and that’s all that matters in the end really.

House III is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced for those with widescreen capability. The picture is generally sharp, although it does suffer from softness in some areas. The majority of scenes offer some terrific sharpness and detail to counteract this. A few film artefacts in the form of white flecks are present, but these are not too bad and are at quite acceptable levels. There is soft grain throughout, but this again is not too much to worry about. Colours are strong and true throughout and there are no subtitles.

Audio is again supplied in Dolby Digital 2.0 or DD 5.1, the same as the previous two releases in this series. Again this is of the same quality as those. The DD 2.0 is adequate and although the DD 5.1 is louder, it is slightly better. The big problem with the 5.1 mix is that it is simply a standard mix spread over the five channels. There are again instances of footsteps coming from every speaker rather than the one speaker to offer directional effect. Speaking of that, can someone please explain to me why there are footsteps heard from shoes, when the lead character is investigating an intruder while in his pyjamas? Overall it is a bonus to have a 5.1 track but this mix, like its predecessors, is only slightly better than the 2.0 mix.

The extras for this release are the same again as the previous releases in this series. There are teaser trailers for House II and House IV and again these are of average quality. The assuption is made that perhaps thaere are no trailers available for House or House III, as they appear nowhere on any discs in this series.

Overall this is a decent horror film with good performances from the lead actors. Any great relevance to the two previous films is basically non-existent, but that is the one constant in this series. The video and audio are sufficient and as part of a box set this film offers good variety.