By Jeannette Catsoulis

With a framing device reminiscent of Tom Holland’s “Fright Night” and a hyperactive score, “The Roost” is a minimalist horror movie with more ambition than resources. Lovingly written and directed by Ti West, a novice filmmaker drunk on splatter and decomposing flesh, the movie treads a well-worn path as four friends (Karl Jacob, Sean Reid and real-life siblings Wil and Vanessa Horneff) find themselves stranded at a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. There are bats in the barn, zombies under the floorboards and more agitated strings on the soundtrack than on a Celine Dion album. But the rules of the genre are clear: form a line and prepare to be slaughtered. Though the premise is rough, and the acting rougher — most members of the cast improve enormously as soon as gore is substituted for dialogue — “The Roost” proceeds with such youthful enthusiasm that its rawness is more charming than annoying. (Less appealing are the television-friendly breaks that halt the action at crucial moments.) Creatively shot and framed by the cinematographer Eric Robbins, who constructs gorgeously lighted centerpieces surrounded by strips of menacing black, the movie almost overcomes its low budget and threadbare plot. Almost.

Read at The New York Times