The Network's Most Unsettling After-Hours Video Will Leave You Paranoid
This House Contains People is a 2015 entry in the channel's ongoing series of Infomercials, which presents odd, often unsettling programming including fake prescription drug commercials to imaginary talk programs.
Presented as CCTV footage from within a suburban home, this hair-raising short film follows a household as they proceed through what seems like a perfectly normal day.
The Family Situation
Parents Ann and Tom argue over how to handle their daughter Madison, who has stubbornly decided to lie face-down on the floor in what is presumably an angst-ridden protest against her parents.
Meanwhile, her brother Jackson prepares for his upcoming birthday party, while his elderly relative remains focused on a strange television program about modeling with clay instead of paying attention to the newest addition to the family: her baby grandchild.
In the basement, a handyman named Dennis works on the pipes under the kitchen.
Something Is Off
The initial clue that something is off comes quickly — text on the CCTV footage refers to each person in the house (and even Dennis the handyman) as "test cases," implying the family's surveillance setup is being surreptitiously monitored.
The second sign that something is amiss arises when Tom and Ann discover Madison is not simply on the floor. She's trapped in it.
The Creative Force
Helmed by the filmmaker Alan Resnick (who also makes a cameo as the clay artist on the television), This House Has People In It does not rely on jumpscares, it's more about a steadily building sense of looming dread.
Despite its brief 12-minute runtime, this creepy production is packed with a indescribable sort of strangeness that stuck with me for a long time, and could prevent you to fall back asleep if you're unfortunate enough to catch it airing at the early hours.
But that's okay — since you will be unable to sleep regardless, you might as well explore the hour of additional footage the director provided as part of an ARG he initiated when This House Contains People first was broadcast.
