credit: Treehouse
There are a lot of movies about witches out there, and quite a few of them have kind of the same message that gets pushed more than once, even if they try to counter it in the same span of time. The message appears to be: men suck. Men are pigs, men rape women, men do this and that, and men basically cause the ills of the world. Even on TV, this appears to be one of the several messages that tend to get pushed. Treehouse isn’t much different since it shows the attempt of several women to go after chef Peter Rake, who admittedly is a man that has managed to avoid trouble by the skin of his teeth and likely the fortune and influence of his family. But where the hypocrisy comes in is the fact that the use of witchcraft, or the appearance of it within the movie, isn’t much better than the vigilante justice that many people rail against. Sure, it feels good to see someone get their comeuppance, but taking things into your own hands is kind of a case-by-case basis, and the fact that it’s usually men that get their comeuppance is, well, good cinema I guess.
credit: Treehouse
The title didn’t exactly get used as much as it could have been.
In all honestly, the title of this movie was more like a mention than a true description of what was going to happen. The titular treehouse only managed to get mentioned a few times until close to the end, when it became more of a fixture. The majority of this movie had to do with the chef, how cringe-worthy he was, and the things he’d done, not to mention the witches that were out to get him for his past misdeeds. The treehouse kind of gets lost in the mix in this story and only gets brought up again when it’s absolutely necessary. As for the rest of it, well, it becomes a mildly detailed account of how miserable this individual really is.
As much as a person might want to like Peter, it’s not really possible.
Despite being tired of watching men being demonized on the screen, Peter is the type of character that a person can’t help but dislike since he’s not a great dad, it’s obvious that he wasn’t a great husband, and listening to his history throughout the movie it’s fair to say that he’s kind of a garbage human being. There are moments when it might appear that he’s trying to be a decent person, but then he goes back to form and is, well, himself. This is one reason why it’s not tough to see him drugged and tied to his bed with a crossbow aimed at his genitals. But it is still kind of messed up that a group of women would decide to go all-in on torturing a person in a manner that does appear to go against everything that Wicca is all about. The whole idea of ‘do no harm’ kind of flies out the window when these women get started since psychological trauma is far more damaging than physical trauma sometimes. But again, he is a waste of space.
credit: Treehouse
Movies about witchcraft feel as though they’ve slipped quite a bit over the years.
Some people like these movies, some think they’re a joke, and others, well, they kind of go back and forth when it comes to this type of feature. Witch movies aren’t all that bad, to be fair, since some of them go a little lighter and try to have as much fun with the idea before really getting into the whole horror aspect of it. But the moment usually comes when it’s determined that witches are powerful as hell and that they’re bound to win simply because they know how to intimidate and get to the men in a way that male warlocks don’t appear capable of doing. But oh well, it’s usually entertaining, and it works for a lot of folks. This movie pushes the limit in a way that makes it clear that the man deserves this treatment, but the vindictive manner that they utilize is enough to gain the ire of a few men that might watch the feature simply because it feels like a man-hating movie.
In terms of entertainment, it’s not horrible, but it’s not great.
Treehouse is the kind of horror movie that one might watch when there’s nothing else on since, to be fair, it’s not all that great. It does have at least one or two twists that do manage to keep things moving. But when it gets into the witchcraft, which turns out to be falsified, the magic is gone, and the resentment builds to a crescendo that falls kind of flat.
Watch it or don’t watch it; just don’t expect the title to make sense.
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