House 23

A Hitchockian setup doesn’t pay off in Yance’s uneven debut, a psychological thriller set in England. After passing out in the shower one day, artist Joseph Lee wakes up, takes a tumble down the stairs, and rolls into the body of his wife, Jennifer, who’s been stabbed multiple times. H’s never charged with the crime, but his family and his neighbors still consider him guilty. Lee settles into an isolated existence. Since he’s inherited his wife’s fortune, he no longer needs to paint to support himself. Then two people move in across the street: Riso Lechnen and his attractive wife, Zala, who bears an unsettling resemblance to Jennifer. They lure Joseph out of his shell, with Zala in particular going out of her way to spend time with him. That new normal obviously won’t be sustained, but the paths the story line takes aren’t surprising and lead up to a gore-filled climax that’s longer on brutal violence than on dramatic tension. Shallow characterizations don’t help. (Sept.)