House on Eden

I very much love the story of YouTubers growing their brand, establishing themselves, and making enough money to create a passion project such as this movie. This is no easy thing to do. They absolutely deserve props for the hard work. Hopefully they learned a lot in the making of this movie and will use that knowledge to keep getting better.

Having said that, they could benefit the most from an editor. House of Eden was filled with unnecessary shots, loooooong scenes, stuttering story telling that was obvious within the first few minutes where this was all going to go. Someone needed to stand up and say "This shot doesn't move the story forward." or "This shot is confusing and not conveying the message you might want." or "This is an ancient and tired plot point told 1000 times. Surely there is a more unique way to tell a Lilith story." Hell, they straight up had a direct scene from The Blair Witch Project.

Kris did great being super annoying and demanding. Celina sold her gross scene well and in general added decent flavor. Jason-of-Two-First-Names was fine, if trying a little too hard.

Keep going y'all!

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.

....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.

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!

It's definitely not "bad" bad, but it's not good either.

As several have said it had potential (that it did not reach) and feels like someone's high school project.

I really like found footage and this one borrows a bit too heavily from Blair Witch and Hell House IV in the settings and character interactions. The severely shaky cam in parts is a big distraction.

If you're a fan of these folks from their other things, perhaps you would enjoy this more. I don't follow them at all so maybe some of it was missing for me.

I gather it was filmed in a week on a small budget and I think one has to appreciate that.

Even though I found the end lacking, still a better finish than The Substance.