THE GLASS HOUSE

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: immodest clothing, violence, language, drug content

Rated:

Ruby Baker (Leelee Sobieski) is the kind of teen that parents have nightmares about. Both popular and beautiful, she's also under-the-table rebellious. Sneaking out to slasher films with her friends and masquerading that she's at a friend's house while attending a Rave, Ruby comes home one evening to find that her entire world has changed. Her beloved if "clueless" parents have been killed in a car accident on the way home from celebrating their twentieth anniversary. Since Ruby is only sixteen and her brother Rhett (Trevor Morgan) eleven, they've been left in the care of their former next-door neighbors, Terry and Erin Glass (Stellan Skarsgård, Diane Lane).

Angry over her parents' deaths and reluctant to accept her new parents, Ruby finds her way rocky. The couple are extremely wealthy in all appearances, with a mansion in Malibu overlooking the cliffs, a Jag and Porches, and expansive grounds. Terri is a high-time car dealer and Erin a well-paid physician. But Ruby senses something is amiss when she is forced to share a room with her brother. Her suspicions mount with time as she begins to wonder at the strange, almost over-protective and watchfulness of her new family. Terry behaves strangely toward her on more than one occasion and one evening she comes in to find Erin stoned. Seeking her family lawyer, she begs for some intercession, fearing that they are in mortal danger. The lawyer arranges a case worker to visit the house unexpectedly but somehow the Glass' find out beforehand and magically things have changed: they have separate rooms, and even her brother is prepared to lie to keep the case worker happy. 

Something is wrong... why is Terry so secretive? How come all of her phone calls are bugged? Why isn't her e-mail working? Ruby slowly begins to unravel the secret horrors of The Glass House. The question is, will she live long enough to find out? The film is a standard-par thriller that the critics have deemed as dull, boring, and even "predictable." "If you've seen the trailer, you've pretty much seen it all" seems to be the most used phrase to describe the film, which is not entirely true. Yes, you know the premise by the trailer -- murder, suspense, and a chilling premise. But there is far more to the film than first catches the eye.

True to form, the villains are agreeably despicable, eventually resorting to physical violence and drug-educed sleep to control the passionate teenager, who develops an admirable sense of protective concern for her brother. And overall the film teaches valuable lessons about rebellion, drinking, and drugs. When forced to watch a "gruesome" movie in driver's ed, Ruby breaks down and cries for her parents. She is shocked and horrified to learn that Erin may be an addict, and rebuffs suggestive advances by Terry Glass. She also learns the worth of completing school work herself when Terry purposely gets her into trouble over an English paper on Hamlet. The film is not for everyone, particularly younger viewers. It more than lives up to the PG13 rating. There is a sexual tension between Ruby and Terry, who once leans across her in the darkened car (to fasten her seatbelt, he tells her) and glances her over while she's in a string bikini. She makes a couple of mild remarks about sex while pulling the leg of a fellow student at the high school. Many of her outfits are cleavage-revealing. She is once seen in her bra. She also abuses God's name (coupled with a minor profanity) twice.

Language is not really a problem; I anticipated far more than there actually was. Other than the two aforementioned uses of G.D., there were no abuses of God's name. Probably about a dozen profanities in all, including minor counts like "crap" and average day-to-day slang. But the single thing I would caution about is the violent content, which gets pretty harsh for the rating. We witness three car wrecks; one in a flashback/nightmare and the other two as they are happening. A car looses control on the cliffs and slams into the rear of another, which spins around and is hit side-on by a Mac Truck. Then the second car hits the railing and turns over; we view momentarily the bloodied driver.  This is not the only time we view a corpse, although thankfully the director chooses not to linger longer then necessary. There is a moderate amount of bloodied people, from the slasher film that Ruby and her friends view at the opening of the film to the ending climax, which ends violently and is very disturbing. A woman is found dead in a bedroom from a drug overdose (her face is grotesque); a man is stabbed; a bloodied man is run down by a car (we see him flip up over the dashboard and fall to the pavement).

The film is full of suspense, the dark, almost all-glass Malibu mansion lending a distinctive chill to the eerie atmosphere as the story pans out. I enjoyed pretty much all of it... until the ending climax. The second time viewing I skipped it entirely. Not quite as unexpected as AntiTrust but with some of the violent problems of The Skulls, The Glass House is a good thriller if you can stomach some violence and have two hours to spare.