Two criminals are attacking housewives in their homes in suburbia. Our main character's solution? To get A Gun in the House.
While everyone in a suburban block is having a discussion on guns and safety in the neighbourhood, we see two masked men break into a woman's house to rob her. They also go as far as raping her. We meet our lead character Emily who is rattled by the latest attacks in the neighbourhood against women, so she buys a chain for the door instead of getting a gun. After the chain is a dud in her husbands eyes, Emily begins going to the shooting range to learn how to use a gun for protection. Late one night, the two men break in and attack Emily also humiliating her in the process. They pour alcohol on her and make her crawl around the floor like a dog. She breaks free of them and grabs the gun shooting one of the men dead in the process, the other runs off. The police then turn the story around on Emily and make her the villain instead of the victim. Can Emily prove her innocence? And will the second man be found?
A Gun in the House isn't a bad Made-For-TV horror drama. There is a lot of discussion throughout the film of are guns good or bad to have, and what is the real problem - guns or the people who carry them. Very relevant to almost every decade and dealing with gun control laws. The film drags slowly in the middle half. It's pretty much just Emily going to the shooting range over and over again to learn how to fire the weapon.
Sally Struthers does a beautiful job as the victim in this break and enter case. Her emotions and fear when the two men attack her and humiliate her are so well done. And then the confusion she shows when she is charged for the murder of the one boy, pretty powerful.
All in all, A Gun in the House is a pretty effective thriller about the dangers of owning a gun and the consequences that can come from it. It also depicts a very terrifying experience of a home invasion and how that can affect a person. I recommend it.
6/10
