Into The Dark: Treehouse Review: Had Potential But Never Quite Reached It

Hulu/Blumhouse Productions latest entry in their monthly horror anthology is "TreeHouse". March's theme is "The Ides Of March". This Roman holiday on March 15th involved the setting of debts. "Treehouse" focuses on fixing scores in the #MeToo era.

Our main character is Peter Rake (played by Jimmi Simpson from "Westworld"). He's an a#%hole celebrity chef who belittles people on his reality TV show. Peter heads to his family's country house to escape some sort of scandal. It's later hinted to involve allegations of sexual assault. This is nothing new given his track record.

Several women are having a bachelorette party next door. The power goes out and Peter invites them over for dinner. Things quickly go south. It turns out all of the women are witches. Mary McCormack seems to be the ring leader. Uh oh, Peter's in trouble now.

Next door neighbor (and uncover witch) Kara blames Peter for her sister's suicide. As a teenager he raped Becca in the treehouse. Becca was also his sister Gwen's best friend. The ladies torture Peter in a variety of ways. I wont give away the specifics of the ending (in case you plan to watch it). Has Peter learned the error of his ways or did he get off too easy? I personally would have preferred a darker turn but I do hope he's redeemable.

Grade: 3 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). "Treehouse" had potential but never quite reached it. An hour passed before the action started (and the movie is only 1 1/2 hours long total). I almost quit and went elsewhere. Jimmi Simpson does an excellent job (as always). The other leads aren't bad either. Nancy Linehan Charles is s standout as the long suffering housekeeper. The show could have greatly benefited from a change in pacing though. I would also have preferred a darker ending.