The House That Jack Built (2018) - Movie Review 

PETA has actually defended this film in a statement praising its accurate portrayal of the link between adolescent animal abuse and psychopathy.

After finishing your review I can basically tell you haven’t seen a Lars von trier movie before. Not saying that as a bad thing or to sound snobby. Just kind of hilarious seeing your reaction to the epilogue because some of his movies are like that the entire time. He’s known for those shots that look like a painting moving in slow motion. It’s strange as hell I know. And believe me I was quite polarized by the ending as well and what to make of it. I looked up some other reviews/explanations and some do quite a good job of making it more understandable. Basically, the guy he’s talking to is Virgil(verge) and he’s being taken on tour of the different rings of hell. The painting part is a reference to an actual old painting of Virgil leading the way across the sea of souls or something like that. I will say I’m not a von trier fan boy or anything, but I actually thought this one was pretty well done in comparison to some of his other movies. Oh honey, if you thought this movie was strange/off putting you should check out some of his others lol. Dogville I turned off after 15 mins. I also wasn’t that affected by the violence. I flinched at the duck part because I’m sensitive to stuff happening to animals in film. Von trier has done some really fucked up shit in his other movies, so I was expecting the worst with this one. I think people are mad about the violence towards children. The thing is his movies now are always about the controversy they bring. Sometimes it seems like he’s doing them just for the attention instead of focusing on making just a solid film with none of the extra philosophical stuff. I feel 90 mins of this movie I really loved and the rest felt kind of laborious to get through, but I expected that going in. Some of it is very typically his style and that is why he is a very polarizing film maker. So, it’s ok that it’s not your type of movie, but I will say if you try to understand further about what you saw and let it digest you might get more out of it. He’s definitely not for everyone though.

This movie is Dante’s inferno and it’s obvious because the old man in the ends name is Virgil and guides him through hell. He even says to him to go through cycles.

Also, heard you mention that uma therman’s character was annoying. Which I thought too at first and I also found some of the other scenarios so unbelievable in the way they played out. Then I thought this whole movie is from Jack’s perspective, so maybe the other characters responses and actions are what he remembers or what he is envisioning them saying. Like Therman’s character saying “guess I made a mistake getting in a car with a serial killer” which is such an odd thing to say to someone, but maybe that is what he’s thinking that she’s saying because he’s psychotic and trying to fight off his urges to kill. When you look at it from that perspective some of the other character responses seem less strange. Sorry for spamming your comments. Just one of those movies that gets you talking. I enjoy all of your vids BTW!

This film is fucking awesome. Best scene was between Jack and Claire at the front door imo....so well acted and uncomfortable. Best serial killer movie ever. The black humor fit perfectly. Von trier is a very stylistic and artsy director, which is why the film is structured the way it is.

rotten grapes that becomes wine is like frozen corpses that becomes bricks to a house. In His mind of course.

Just because a film is unconventional (compared to most Hollywood stuff) doesn’t mean it’s abstract.

The wine scene... is one of my favorite scenes lol I respect your opinion but this was one of the few abstract scenes that translated easily to me. I would type out what it meant to me but I don't want to. I want to hang out with you and defend this so bad haha.

Oh man this review really frustrates meeeeeee!!!! Please, if you've never watched a Lars Von Trier film DO NOT let this review deter you from watching. This along with everything else from him is absolutely brilliant. The trouble with this review is that he is only viewing it as a "serial killer movie" when the movie is so so so much more! It's not too difficult of a concept to follow - jack throughout the movie is having an internal dialogue with a "Virge" as they walk through hell. The entire movie is a metaphor for good and evil and how true beauty is found in darkness. The sequence he refers to as one to "not give a fuck about" is one of the most important in my opinion! The point of mentioning the grapes is to enforce this idea that true beauty comes out of decay, darkness which is again mirrored near the end of the movie when jack finally builds his "house". This isn't a "serial killer movie", you can't look at it that way. It has many many layers and for me personally, after I watch a Von Trier film everything else in life seems to disappoint. He challenges his audience and I for one appreciate that in a movie. It's something that can be discussed and analyzed as opposed to just simply watched and forgotten.

I completely thought that this film was thought-provoking, intriguing, disgusting, beautiful, hilarious and extremely brilliant. The best way of being able to digest this film is by deconstructing Lars and his look on cinema itself. I watched this film the first time around and it took me a couple days to think about everything to really fully understand it. The brilliant ideology of this film is how he explains not just the philosophy of the Jack ( studying and deconstruction of our character's career and mind) but as well as the brilliant character study of Lars himself and the meaning of the creation of his films. As Jack says during one of the monologues, a scene where Lars shows pieces of his previous films, "The atrocities we commit in our fiction are those that we can not commit in our control civilization. So instead it is expressed through our art". Lars is trying to tell the audience that we, just like Jack, have thought about killing. That it's embedded into our human nature. We've all had that time we've hated someone or have been so angry at someone that we've thought about violently harming that person. But yet we, the viewer, have too much of a self-controlled/conscious mind to be able to carry out such a fucked up act. So instead of committing an unspeakable act out in real life, as a serial killer would, we create characters that we can commit acts on within our imagination. 'Nymphomaniac' (volume 1 & 2) show the sadomasochistic fantasies we all have fetishized deeply in our psyches, even if many don't wanna admit it (which many of you will probably deny out of shame and embarrassment). 'Dogville' is about "our controlled civilization" and artistically freeing ourselves by committing "atrocities in our fiction". 'Antichrist' goes back speaking about the violent sadomasochistic fantasies but on the level of how we almost-sexualize our violence in media (film, video games, news, books, etc.). 'Melancholia' is about how people handle their squeamish behavior toward these topics that he forces us to confront. How someone with depression (something Lars himself struggles with) could possibly handle these topics more than someone who doesn't struggle with depression. Do we, who struggle with depression accept the truth in the subject matter instead of looking away out of being uncomfortable? Making the viewer question and ponder. While 'Dancer In The Dark' is about how these characters in his films are time and time again put into these gruesome and tragic scenarios and will most likely not get the ending we're wanting them to have. Because the reality is there are usually no happy endings for anyone.The reason he shows clips of his films is because he's deconstructing himself and the way he thinks to the viewer. He perception of how he views art, fiction, and the world around him. Just like you said Cody, "It's much like walking through an art gallery and seeing a picture or a painting or a portrait up on the wall that's in an abstract form". His films are supposed to be abstract but as well as expressionistic. Just like looking at a Basquiat painting or a Francis Bacon painting or a Jackson Pollock painting, you have to be able to take a step back look at the whole entire piece itself. You have to allow yourself to leave your comfort zone to gain some form of knowledge/insight from a different perspective than your own. Lars might be a weird individual but definitely doesn't change the fact he's an absolute genius. I recommend everyone to take a step back after watching any film of his and look at each one like you'd look at a painting in a museum or gallery. Because that's exactly the reaction that he wants from you. As for the last act of the film, I think he left that up to the viewer to decide. To look at it from your own view. I personally think the last act is Jack's own personal hell. The inside of his mind to be exact. The slow-motion scene is him traveling further and further down the path of his consciousness. I highly recommend rewatching The House That Jack Build a second time as you see more in a film the second time around as you discover things you hadn't seen before. Either way, I thought it was a fantastic film and I highly recommend looking into his other works. Especially the Five Obstructions as well as some of his other films.

Great vid. Did you know Riley Keough is Elvis Presley's granddaughter

Lol I just watched it yesterday. In my opinion, just like Venom is "what if Marvel made Upgrade" this movie is "what if Lars Von Trier made Maniac".

This guy talks about getting on his phone twice while watching the movie. To me this negates any credibility towards his ability to critique this film.

Watched this last night with my husband and my 2 adult kids. They all loved this movie. Me, not so much. I didn't hate it, but it just isn't my cup of tea. Thought Matt Dillon was really good, and loved that Matt Dillon and Uma Thurman were in it. They were in one of my favorite movies called "Beautiful Girls" together. I kinda enjoyed that. I didn't mind the end. I actually understood that. I sat around listening to my family praise this movie and talk about all the awesome things in it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Just too weird for me. Good review. I totally understand where you are coming from.

It’s weird that I like this movie

You are the reason Fast & Furious movies are popular lol.

Fun fact, PETA actually applauded the movie for showing the negative sides of animal abuse and the reality of a lot of psychopaths!

I’m in Group A, thought it was great. Wouldn’t say it’s a masterpiece because you can’t just gloss over the fact that Von Trier inserts a lot of pretentious BS sometimes, but I found it super engaging. It was dark comedy mixed with a really interesting look into a serial killers mind. As fucked up as it was, I would have to recommend for people into artistic filmmaking. Sometimes it’s movies like these that we need in order to stretch the spectrum of distinct filmographies.

As someone who went to a classical high school where Dante's divine comedy was a required reading, I loved it. I actually loved runtime😂

this was the best movie of 2018, the best mix of horror,art and most of all pure comedy

I saw the trailer and that was enough for me... I don't think I'd be able to stomach this movie and I've seen my fair share of messed up in movies. I just finished the video and it was a good review! Great work, Cody!

Man I’m just happy you watched it! 😂 Sequence 2 was probably my favorite.

I don't like his other films but loved this one I found quiet a bit of humour I seen this film as a good dark comedy and don't think some of this even has real metaphors actualy think it was the director playing a joke on the audience so I got a giggle with that as well I could be totally wrong but that was my experience

Not sure if this will help, but I saw the Epilogue as Jack's descent into hell, ala Dante's inferno. SPOILERS Just before he and Verge "escape" from the police through the sudden hole in the floor, the police take a shot at Jack. One could interpret it as Jack is actually shot dead by the police and the Epilogue is his experience post death. Katabasis means "descent to the underworld". It does happen suddenly and the film takes a strange turn at that point, but that's Von Trier for you.

Hillbilly doesn't understand this epilogue. Shocking. It really wasn't hard to follow and I'm far from a cinema snob or Lars von Trier fan.

The story is about a man going to hell and confessing his sins to the man who is escorting him there. At least that’s how I saw it. Also not sure if you saw the directors cut or not but I want to say there is six murders in that one not sure tho

This movie seem to be inspired by American Psycho. Both Abstract morbid, commentary, satire. That seem to come off like they were deeper than they really were. But I enjoyed both movies just in different ways

Great review Cody just like always! Keep up the great work man! Also this thought just crossed my mind you should totally do a ranking of all the Tarantino films. That’s something I’d love to hear your thoughts on!

I cant say that I love it, but I can say that I will remember it. Tons of the movies I see lately leave almost no impression.

I think your review was great and spot on and this is coming from someone who loved The House That Jack Built but with saying that this is a movie that is not for everyone. Awesome Review:)

I have not seen The House that Jack Built but, after watching this it does not sound like something that I would want to spend my time on. Thanks for the review Cody! 😎👍

I think he tries too hard to be "That Director" that is so controversial that he crams way too much "Artistic Vision" into a single movie. He really has 2 extremes, REALLY graphic & over the top OR REALLY freaking boring with long drawn out, unnecessary scenes. Sometimes it works & sometimes it doesn't...And sometimes the viewer feels like they just dropped acid! Lol He's got plenty of talent, he just needs to rely on that to make a good movie...

i dont see a single snob comment he is reffering to

Hope your holiday season is warm and happy Cody. Peace and love.

God bless Lars for still sticking to his guns. Although he tends to be self indulgent but it's still a breath of fresh air by comparison to the later shitty horror flicks (including Halloween 2018 & Get Out). I cannot wait for the un-cut version next year. But as Cody said, you need to be a David Lynch fan to enjoy it.

You should review American Psycho with Christian Bale, it's a masterpiece.

I loved the film! *patiently waits for a director’s cut on Blu-Ray*

Antichrist was BRUTAL as all hell, you have to watch it at least once, then never EVER again! I've yet to watch "The House That Jack Built" will give it a go on the weekend and then come back to you. Keep up the good work.

I miss when reviewers just talked about movies they liked. Thank goodness everyone has they're own opinion.

This movie is definitely not made for you!

You should definately check out Dogville, which is aesthetically/visually an experimentation but storywise quite conventional. And once you accept the chalk outlines (which I found happened quickly), it is a drama masterpiece. (In my opinion his best.) I would also recommend Dancer In The Dark (It's bleak but beautiful), The Kingdom (outrageous, dark and hysterically funny), Melancholia (a slowburn but visually gorgeous). You can skip Nymphomaniac, which is loaded with the same kind of stuff you didn't like in this one... (Many of the tropes seem almost duplicated.)

And the ending was suppose to represent Dantes inferno

Hey Cody, sorry to hijack your comments section here, but was just wondering have you ever done a review for the Psycho films? Would love to see those. By the way awesome review as always. Had not heard of this movie before and was interested in the premise but after your review I definitely think I am on the side of the people who would likely not enjoy this film so I'm gonna skip it

I just started watching "DREAM WARRIORS" for the first time.

Dislikes this movie but enjoys Aquaman. Try not to get all your popcorn all over your cool pop culture shirts.

Von Trier is one weird individual

Just ordered a movie called "The Stuff"

I just forced myself to get through this film for the 3rd time. As soon as it ended, I came RIGHT to find if you talk about this film, just hear you sh!t all over it! 😂 SPOT ON. My thoughts exactly. I f’ing love your salty honest reviews. Great job. F the epilogue 😂

The only splotches on canvas I've ever appreciated was Erashead. Somewhere between the measles baby and the cottonball-cheek lady living in the radiator, I found my artsy side.

Like most LVT movies, there’s a kernel of an interesting idea, but him being too far up his own ass with the concept ruins his own film. Too many nonsensical tangents, too much shock gore just for the sake of shocking the audience that had nothing to do with anything.

And I wish people would quit referring to Dillon's character as a serial killer. He's a psychopath first, killing is a byproduct.

great review cody, Landry here, i thought the film is so horribly hard to grade. the film does good and bad things and some downright strange things. with all the metaphorical details and the visual imagery to further points or raise questions. and the movie is most certainly the directors ego and imagination here on full display. now i cant really say whether thats a good or bad thing, what i can say is a bad thing, is the over abundance and heavy handed way he keeps smashing us over the head. we get the meaning of life imitating art and how we perceive what is good and evil in the world, but do you have to tell me 5 different times the same message

This guy sounds exactly like Theo Von

It was too long; I’m completely desensitized from grisly violence, but I can’t tolerate an excessive runtime 🤷🏾‍♂️😂 The depiction of hell was… neat.

The reason why Uma was annoying in the film was due to Jack purposely making her annoying when telling his story to Verge. Its basically him being a narccist about his ego and making it seem like he is smart and his victims and the police are dumb.

the funny thing is peta actually praised this movie for the duck scene.

I believe Lars Von Trier also did Nymphomaniac which was a 5+ hour 2 volume non linear artistic film, and that I enjoyed. This sounds like a very similar style film so I'll probably give it a watch.

5:30 actually happened in the Jeffrey Dahmer case. One of his victims actually got away from his apartment and ran into the street to a cop. They cops took it as a homosexual domestic dispute and allowed Dahmer to take the young boy back into his apartment.

you mirrored my thoughts exactly. to me, this movie was boring and dull. i do indeed understand a lot of the metaphorical stuff, but it’s so boring. the only thing this movie has going for it for me is the filmmaking and matt dillon.

Debating about watching this. I really like arthouse movies, but i truly have to be in the mood. Thank you so much for this honest and funny review. Subbed!❤

"It's like lars von Trier saw a David lynch film and said b***ch please" that had me laughing my a$$ off.

The two reviews I watched of yours speak to your idiocracy of the genre. I should have known better after watching your leprechaun returns review. Your conclusion in this review was at least honest. paraphrasing your conclusion~If you appreciate layered perspective, this movie is for you. Most of you don't because most people hate thought provoking art...this movie isnt for you. AkA the world is dumb, including me, and the world will hate this movie, so don`t waste your time.

The ending made sense if you knew of the divine comedy

I just didn't like the ending. Shoulda been more down to Earth.

Do a video where you rank your best horror franchises. Like a nightmare on elm street, Halloween movies, Friday 13th movies, lep movies, candy man movies, shit like that

"It's just art, it's too sophisticated for you" Lol. Lars had his head so far up his ass with this movie. This movie had the potential to be a masterpiece but he had to inject his giant ego in it constantly.

Too many people turn a blind eye, and it’s true no body actually makes an effort to help. Their words are empty. During a little OC ticks with my schizophrenia I kept repeating and calming myself by saying “in chaos there is order, because chaos is order.” Whilst I was repeatedly organizing and cleaning.There must be murder and cruelty in the world for there to be an equal happiness and compassion for there to have balance.

1:35 Is that what Rian Johnson did with the Last Jedi? Fuck.

imagine joaquin phoenix in this role, he was probably busy filming don't worry, he won't get far on foot.

I like Lars Von Trier movies but they're definitely weird. If you haven't seen Nymphomaniac and have about 4 hours to kill I think you'd like that one. It's one of his more straightforward films.

You don't understand. You don't have a sophisticated enough tastes to understand this kind of movie. You clearly dislike the basic blockbuster movie.

Great review Cody. I really wanna check this film out. It Look's amazing. I hope I'll like the film.

You unsophisticated lol jk I don't give a shit I haven't seen the movie, but I do like him in The Outsiders. I think you should watch American Psycho: starring Christian Bale if you haven't already I think it would be at least more entertaining, and I just like him after The Dark knight Trilogy so plz check that shit out, and do a review on it!!!

PETA actually praised the duck scene. I thought the ending was basically supposed to be like Dante's Inferno. I really enjoyed this movie but I could see how some people would hate it.

9:17 There's literally a scene where Jack muders 2 children then forces there mom to feed the corpes pie. Then he proceeds to mutilate one of the kids dead bodys. How is that not shocking? And how is that less shocking than him killing his girlfriend?

Why label people who enjoy this snobs though? Nothing wrong with you not enjoying it.

Lars Von Trier is probably my least favorite director working today. I hate his movies.

Whole movie was a representation of Dante's Inferno, with Virgil being his guide through the whole movie. With the Epilogue a visual descent into hell. I typically love anything representing Dante's Inferno, but this was a bit too artsy for me.

"All Kings Horses and all the kings men couldn't put Simple back together again!" I agree dude Incident 4 was the best part of the movie. The family scene actually made me laugh.

I'm one of the people that watched it and saw art (well good movie) but I totally get that it's not to everyone's taste. The fact you didn't like it but were able to still get it is pretty awesome. So kudos for a good review even if I disagree with you

I was very intrigued by this move. The only negative was the length if you ask me.

Being a movie fan, I enjoy challenging myself when it comes to content and message. But Lars Van Trier has long, in my opinion, quit making movies for others to enjoy, and now makes them for his own masturbatory self gratification. And from an artistic stand point I admire that. I mean sticking to your guns is a big deal when making content, especially when Hollywood can remake stuff over and over again. But at some point, if you are telling stories, you have to at least find a way to allow the audience to get invested in them. And I don’t think he does that. I mean, if you like his stuff that’s cool, but he has spent a career building his reputation, and he’s proud of it, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to get more of the same with this movie. At some point it feels like you want to call him on the phone and say, “okay dude. We get it. Can you try something else.” But at the same time At this point, i should have know what I’m in for. After all, you don’t buy a new Mcartney, and expect a great hip hop song. So why should Lars change it up for me now? I guess what I’m trying to say is, I respect that he is as an artist and director, but his movies are just not for me. I gave this a D+

funnily enough peta stood up for this movie on twitter

I really didn't see anything too shocking or over the top with this movie. People are just offended because he shot a couple of kids, which I personally thought was hysterical!!!

I kinda liked this movie. I mean I’m glad I watched it. But I’ll probably never watch it again. I like metaphors and artsy stuff in movies. ( I mean my own private Idaho is one of my favorite romance movies). But this movie was just kinda boring. It’s like he was doing artsy stuff for the sake of being artistic. I feel there is a great movie in this movie. It just needs to be a lot shorter and a lot less exposition heavy.

I'm a big fan of Chris Stuckman, but you have become my favorite critic to watch. Looking forward to a Krampus review!

I stopped halfway through. Not bc I hated your video, but rather I loved it so much I knew the rest would be agreeing with me even more. Which is weird, bc I disagree with you about the quality of the movie. This is a rare time where I describe a movie using the word *visceral* negatively. This could have been a taut, 120-minute brilliant movie if it wasn't for taking its eventual late overtones WAY too seriously. Chop those obvious moments off and we have a masterpiece As it is, we only have a really tense, audacious thriller that evokes *Henry* but in a much lighter sense, with comedic moments rather than dark and grainy. Great review.

I am still evaluating this movie but I know it's examining that there are degrees of being a psychopath. I'm sure there are people watching it that don't empathize with victims. Think about what that says about you.

I hope to see this movie soon cause I've heard its really good. It seems disturbing but at the same time I'm excited cause I've heard really good things

Have you seen Man bites dog? If so it would be cool to hear how you liked it in a form of a review.

It's my favorite movie of the year but man I love this review .

I don’t feel it was all that shocking personally. Matt Dillon was great. But it was more often boring. The ending was stupid.

Which Language do you dream in?

I'm going to be honest. I had two months to sit on this and this is not a movie for me.

2 vids in one day I like it man please heart this comment

I definitely respect your opinion. It's definitely acquired taste. But for me I frickin love this movie. I will never thought a movie that will come close to the movie Mandy. But this movie just did. The criticisms I will give this is that the shitty camera work. And the super slow burn of this movie. But this was the most weirdest batshitty movie that I saw. But I am going to see this movie again. So I could see if I feel the same way. For me movies like this I have to see it again.

If you are a Sommelier, you may like this movie more :-D

I was planning on seeing this when it came out to rent. I don't know. I like cerebral films, but this sounds like it takes it overboard. Off subject, Cody have you seen Starry Eyes? Im late with this one, you should definitely check it out. Its on Amazon Prime. The synopsis didnt sound interesting but i heard some other people say how good it was. It was indeed. Loved it. Especially that third act. One of the best third acts i have seen in a bit.

Matt Dillons best role imo.

I’m intrigued by this but I don’t think it’ll be my kinda thing. I’ll deffo watch it anyway.