Since I liked co-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’s Heretic, I decided to check out their earlier effort, Haunt. I’d read mixed things about it and knew it was about a haunted house, but that’s about it. Since I am watching as much horror as possible this month, I figured it’s a good time to go ahead and see for myself whether this movie is my thing or not. So, I’m reviewing Haunt as my 29th film of (over) 31 this spooky season. Let’s get into it, shall we?
A group of 20-somethings find an “extreme” haunted house and sign their lives away through a waiver of liability… literally! What starts out as a predictable haunted house experience quickly turns deadly. Will the obnoxious young people make it out alive? Is the violence they’re seeing real or part of the show? Are the victims in on it and joining the performers or something much, much worse? Are there any more questions I can ask to pad this synopsis any more?
I want to address the “obnoxious” characterization that I made first. That’s not necessarily a ding against the movie. There are plenty of films with obnoxious characters that are good nonetheless. And not all of these young people are obnoxious. But I certainly wasn’t very upset when some of them got bumped off. Two of the characters are worth rooting for though. But only because they’re not total assholes. And that’s about the extent of their character development. And everyone makes moronic choices (like walking directly in front of a firing shotgun instead of 6 inches to either side of it). And that’s the level of writing you’ll find in this film. It’s not awful. It’s just not that good either. The germ of the idea – a group getting picked off at a haunted house – is very simple. It’s something that has been done several times and as far back as at least 1981 with The Funhouse. Where that film’s twist/hook was a deformed brute eliminating witnesses to a murder, this one’s twist is that behind the masks, the killers are self-deformed (through body modification) with no real motivation. I don’t think that’s a spoiler. It certainly has no bearing on the plot. Neither do the flashbacks to the main (ish) character’s abusive past. Are we seeing this because it makes her a better fighter? Doesn’t seem like it. Is her fighting back catharsis? Not explicitly. It is very tacked on. The film is a mess, but there are a couple of fun kills. I guess fans of haunt attractions based horror should check this out but I don’t know who else would like it.
The Final Cut: Haunt is an unremarkable entry into the killer haunt attraction oeuvre. Its clunky writing, weak characterization, and illogical actions make this one to skip unless the premise alone gets your heart racing.
No Real Danger 