Max Winslow and The House of Secrets

Cinema and an all-controlling artificial intelligence are old acquaintances. In terms of film history, HAVEN, the supercomputer in tech billionaire Atticus Virtue's luxury mansion, has a notorious role model: in Stanley Kubrick's "2001 - A Space Odyssey", the on-board computer HAL gave its entrusted space crew hell in cold space. The five teenagers chosen by Virtue for his exciting and lucrative competition also find themselves at the mercy of a crazed AI in closed rooms: Virtue's futuristic mansion, the "House of Secrets", is home to the highly gifted but socially marginalized student Max Winslow, the sensitive athlete Connor and social media queen Sophia, as well as two other competitors. The five chosen ones have to solve complex puzzles and complete tricky tasks. At the end, the lucky winner will own the house. So far so good, were it not for the fact that the luxury estate soon turns out to be a highly dangerous trap. Of course, the consequences of the tactical AI and its acts of sabotage turn out to be less deadly than those of its cinematic role models. "The House of Secrets" turns out to be the setting for an imaginative, thoroughly moral science fiction thriller with clever puzzles that do not overtax the young audience. The family film brings the subject of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" into the new age and combines its old-fashioned setting with exciting high-tech skirmishes! „[...] Max Winslow And The House Of Secrets is an exceptional movie. Before the film had even been on for 10-minutes, I was already entranced. Wild’s script has no fat to trim, setting up each of the main characters well. While the story isn’t new, there are enough twists or variations for it to come across as refreshing and unique. The most exciting aspect is how the games are individually tailored to each contestant. Olson, who also edited the movie, strikes the perfect tonal balance of drama- stemming from the characters’ personal demons- intense thrills, visceral excitement, and comedy.“ (Bobby LePire, pm: filmthreat.com)