The Houses October Built

This film sets itself up like a documentary, but veers very quickly from that point. If you don't know what you're watching, you'll be in for either a treat or a surprise. For a horror film, which is what this is, it can get pretty weird. Probably one of the weirder horror films that I've seen.

The film had a slow pace to begin with, but gets slower towards the end; and the ending is really strange. Best to watch when you're fully awake so you can figure out what's going on, and best to watch with someone if you scare easily.

I was surprised when a sequel was announced.

Nevermind the actual film, the idea is one of the most potent I've seen in some time.

A group of friends set out in a van in search of horror, haunted house attractions scattered around rural America. It's the days leading up to Halloween so we can have a pervasive atmosphere of masks and monsters roaming the streets. I like that it's a glimpse outside the usual and tied to a larger fabric of make-believe.

The idea is that we'll venture into these houses where horror is supposed to be controlled around us, the work of fiction, only to discover more slippery boundaries of truth. This would touch at the very essence of horror, exploiting the same perturbations that move viewers in both the actual houses and film; see, we know it's not real, but what to do when your body tells you otherwise?

So nevermind that it's actors we see and scripted reactions. Some of the most potent footage here are from within these houses where we go in with a camera and a swirl of monsters lunges at us, staged but it comes alive. I'm guessing these are actual places that partnered with the filmmakers and this is what tantalized me going in; it would be at least in part an actual tour of that America that goes to pilgrimage in actual places.

They manage to bungle this for my taste, the part where fiction blurs and we go to something that comes alive in the moment of watching.

For one, they chose the "found footage" mode (silly name, largely the baggage of Blairwitch - it really means "someone is filming this now"). It's the most apt choice I've seen since Last Exorcism, but no one ever films a sense of place and passing time, a physical sense of journey; they waste it on lots of blathering around a camera so that it ends up feeling like an episode of cable TV. Indicative of the actual makers holding the camera I guess.

And then there's the ending. This is where the staged scenarios in these attractions don't cut it any more as the characters push for more and more "real" stuff. Lo, there's rumor of a secret place that you can only reach by invitation. But once there, it's the most obviously staged part of the film, the complete opposite of where we were meant to be viewing-wise.

So this is a miss, filmmakers with maybe the strongest idea of any of their peers this year but none of the tools of insight to cultivate it. They outline enough for me to imagine it in more intuitive hands so all in all I would have this over the next paranormal film.

Someone has gone out with the urge for horror in mind (and it's our very urge to inhabit illusion that made us build these houses), thinking he knows illusion from real, but it begins to spill outside, perturbing reality. From a certain point on, the apparitions become aware of someone watching, aware inside the fiction, so conspire to stage the real thing as a cosmic prank that shatters lives.

Watch The Funhouse, Hooper's film driven by the same instinct, a funhouse that extends from the actual place to haunt the whole film.

I give this movie a four out of ten overall on IMDb's scale out of ten points.

For writing I give it a four out of ten. It is not terrible but also nothing special. It is a pretty easy story line that you can see the plot developments coming in. There are twists but they are the typical kind of horror and thriller movie twists that you can see coming a mile away. The dialogue is not bad but nothing really stands out as great and most of all there is nothing about the story or script that sticks with you.

For acting I give it a four out of ten as well. There are some good actors and some bad and even terrible actors but most of them are decent to average.

For production value I give it a five out of ten. The picture looks great and the shots they show are pretty interesting and keep you interested until the end. The horror movie shots are typical but well done. Again nothing special that stands out or is very memorable but definitely nothing too awful either. The sets etc are all decent. The sound is also good though at times I thought the music or score were too loud.

I scored this high because it isn't like any movie I've seen before. Its not as much as scary as it is creepy, however. In my opinion, its a movie that plays more on an individuals phobias than anything else for that kind of fear factor. I won't go into detail because I don't want to spoil it for anyone - but you have to be into hand held camera movies like 'The Blair Witch Project' to enjoy it.

I read through the negative 'don't waste your time' comments and came across a positive one which swayed it for me, I watched it and wasn't disappointed, so hopefully you won't be either. Its original, realistic, and if you get really into it, it will certainly creep you out.

The only reason I'm giving this a 2 is because of the interesting content that may or may not be real revolving around their interviews with haunted house workers. It's boring, predictable, and I think by now everyone with a clown phobia has made a decision to avoid movies like this, not flock to them.

For those of us looking for a thoughtful movie, a scary movie, a movie that you'll look back on the next day and go "Damn, that was good," this is not it. This is lazy, self-indulgent and drags across the screen like the corpse we never get dragged off camera but kind of wish we do, since nobody is the least bit likable. You sit through the end because you think, as with most FF movies, the slow build will pay off. It does not. If you think you can guess the ending, you're probably right, if you're over the age of eight. That's about as much worldly experience you need to call it.

You want to be scared sleepless? You want amazing writing and genius use of FF perspective? You want Hell House LLC. That movie kicks this house's butt, on so, so many levels.

I watched this thinking I'd get a least a similar thrill ride, and what I got was held hostage on a stupid RV for an hour and a half of my life. Oh, and hey, literally everyone involved with this movie? I also see there's a sequel who's trailer advertises any semblance of what you wanted us to believe about the ending—that right there kills your market for those who you wanted to leave hanging. You guys need to get off this ride before you dig your own grave.