Haunting on Fraternity Row

It's the best movie set in a frat house recorded on an iPhone 5 ever made.

With a title like this it feels like the movie has little hope of being anything but a dumb, lowest common denominator fear flick. This isn't that. Honestly, it kind of felt like Scream 2 by way of James Wan.

In this movie a group of frat bros are throwing a giant, end of the year Luau party and are immediately expelled for cultural appropriation.

Just kidding, this isn't a documentary although it is a found footage movie and the gimmick here isn't as obtrusive as it can be.

The guys unwittingly unlock an ancient evil hidden beneath the house which begins to wreak havoc during the massive, and I do mean massive party. The plot is pretty straight forward and the acting and characterization are surprisingly solid. There is a fair amount of humor that's totally organic to the situation and a little nudity both male and female.

The CGI isn't great but I've seen worse. The big problem is that it just takes way too long to become a horror movie. With the exception of a few quick jump scares, almost all the horror is saved for the last 20 mins of a movie that is actually over 90 mins. I clearly remember checking the clock at the hour mark and thinking this thing really needs to get started soon. And it did and the finale is a strong, chaotic set piece with a higher, and less predictable body count than you'd think.

This movie really isn't half bad and I suggest paying to see it, supporting the creators, and checking out whatever comes next from them because with a little improvement, they might make something really worthwhile next time.

A great movie, but it wasn't. Surprisingly not a lot of nudity for this genre. Slow starting with pointless character setups. All the 30 something teenagers should really act in roles for their age, we're not that stupid. Once the killing begins, the movie is watchable. Monster effects, were... ok. Watchable, sure, memorable, nope.

Before 1hr 15 mins film is 1/10. Skip it. After is okay, good effects, but the beast is the worst CGI ever made. And why, in US movies, do Uni students always look 30+?

Part of me was semi-intrigued, being someone who is no stranger to horror films (really appreciate the genre too, despite what some of my previous reviews have implied), and the idea interested me somewhat despite being ridiculous. A large part of me was apprehensive though, having heard it was not good and that it looked like one of those cheap and overdone films with a muddled tone.

Which, when watching it, was what 'Haunting on Fraternity Row' essentially was, cheap and overdone with nothing interesting or scary. It is not just not a good film, it's an intelligence insulting waste of time. If it was trying to entertain, scare or both, 'Haunting on Fraternity Row' failed abysmally on both counts, making the film a terrible chore to sit through. Am not hating or trying to be malicious, it is just my genuine stance on a film that didn't do anything for me as well as many others

From beginning to end the acting, from particularly the leads, is both overplayed and stiff. In all fairness they were hindered by hammy direction, constantly awkward and limp dialogue and that the film has no interesting or likeable character whatsoever.

Script is childish, flabby and even improvisatory-sounding. The story is not much of one and takes forever to get going, when it finally does it is not for long and it is too late to care. It also over-emphasises the stereotypical teenage drama too much, which is a big problems with the characters being so irritating and in some cases personality deprived.

Unfortunately, any attempts at levity are completely witless, childish and so overdone it gets exhausting. The horror elements are a long way from tense or suspenseful, generating little interest even, the lack of scary atmosphere due to being so predictable and cheap-looking makes this haunting a very bland one. The kills were not creative and would go as far to say they were too tame, while the things there to by the film's definition "spice things up" came over as gratuitous and abused.

'Haunting on Fraternity Row' is a cheap looking film that even makes the scenery look tacky. Especially the photography, am too convinced that the film was made on a cheaper budget than has been cited here. The sound is obvious and intrusive.

Overall, terrible. 1/10 Bethany Cox