House on Eden

Holy motion sickness, batman. If unsteady camera work makes you ill, skip this movie. I know they were trying to go for "authentic" found-footage, but they erred on the side of far too much shaky-cam running and it got to the point where I was seasick and honestly baffled (and getting increasingly annoyed) by how much time the cameras were out of focus.

Anyways, we watch as a group of ghost-investigating youtube vloggers head towards some little-known abandoned haunted house they NEVER give any background on, but somehow believe will be their biggest break and best video ever. We are then treated to a pretty classic haunted house story, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

There are some glaringly odd choices which reveal the budget and the makers' lack of experience/ nuance. Such as the vloggers walking to the 'derelict' house on an obviously-just-mowed-and-maintained trail, and the house being absolutely, immaculately clean, with fresh linens and pristine, well cared for, potted flowers; the artistic flop of having all of the characters use huge, bulky cameras with different resolutions instead of their phones; an inability to get the viewers to like and care for the characters; some plot gaps; and a fumbling of the ending typical for this genre.

But there are some genuinely creepy moments and the acting and editing are better than normal for this kind of movie. If this were just a freebie on Prime or found on a random TV channel with completely unknown actors, people would think it was pretty good. But the 'hollywood' hype and expectation for what is, essentially, a self-produced, amateur movie, are likely leading to many finding it disappointing.

So despite the flaws, this slots in as a solid-enough example of its type and a decent option for someone wanting a low-budget, classic-style haunted house type movie to watch.

Found footage movies generally tend to suck in my opinion. The formula is the same which is one step above reality tv. I'll admit the Blair Witch in 1999 was kind of spooky and had a decent premise to it. Here we have something that mashed every found footage horror movie you've ever seen. There's a cult in there somewhere connected to a strange spooky house and it's out in the secluded area of the universe. Sorta like a forest this one heavily borrowed from the 1999 movie and I even recognize a few other stolen situations from other horror movies. The movie starts out pretty decent. A blogger is blogging her experience in the haunted house of Eden. There are some spooky noises and a few jump scares until the second half where it becomes a letdown. The ending in these movies are setting you up for the big reveal these movies are known for. Here, it's almost like folks saw those boring A24 movies and put together a climax. Anyhow, this one is supposed to be headed for shudder soon which is better than dropping $12.

Pleasantly surprised. I knew the actors were content creators, but I'd only seen short clips here and there. I liked Kris in the Smosh Reddit episode, so I decided to check out the movie. The acting felt really natural, and I felt like I was along for the ride with 3 friends.

There were three solid jump scares that actually got me good but I do wish we got more background on the setting lore. My biggest issue was the overuse of handheld camera shots at the beginning. The constant motion started to give me a headache so I had to close my eyes.

Still, for a first-time writer and director, this was a fun and impressive debut. You can tell she has some interesting ideas.

I hate writing this because I love these two women, but I could not get into this movie. The writing wasn't bad, it was just a bit juvenile and cheesy in many places, especially the beginning. I see what they were going for here, but it wasn't executed well. The hide-and-seek part was really weird.

And then it just goes downhill further. No memorable jump scares or spooky moments, and the ending has been done so many times already. It felt very Paranormal Activity.

Honestly, I could see them nailing a comedy/horror. Something like Dale and Tucker VS Evil or Army of Darkness. I want Kris to keep at it. Very creative person. Just needs to focus on what she's good at, which is comedy, and then fuse that with your interest in horror.

Don't give up!

....don't do it. The movie has no good reason to exist. Thinking witty banter and charm would get these three through any half baked concept I went to the theater and was gravely disappointed in how pointless the movie could be. It's a ghost hunters/Blair Witch Project mash up with KallMeKris and Celina and Jason yucking it up in the woods. Jason's male gazing Kris with his cam and.....Kris finds a house in the middle of nowhere that appears to be lived in but no one is there so it MUST be haunted.

Nothing of interest happens in the movie. Ghost Hunters, a show I don't even like would be better than this. The movie comes across as having unscripted dialogue for the most part as there is a threadbare plot creeping along. It does come to a wordless, silent, suspense-free head at the end. While I like her comedic short form content, Collins displays no ability for feature narrative work with this movie.

While there may have been a point intended, it is lost on the audience for having to endure the meandering banter back and forth. At least the movie likely cost less than a million to make. I don't think it'll turn a large profit theatrically.

This does not meet the standard of a horror movie. It is not scary and doesn't even seem like it wants to scare, set a creepy tone, or even be an interesting paranormal investigation piece.