Started out pretty strong but completely lost its way in the middle. It became confusing and misleading, but not in the sort of way that boosts the cinematic effect. It didn't seem like the creators themselves knew where the film was going. It was like they had half of a good idea and just tried to wing it with the other half.
The premise was quite good and fresh. You have a severely abused and traumatized, mentally ill woman on a journey of self-discovery and she believes an extreme haunted house will help to free her from her past. I've actually always wanted to do one of these types of extreme haunts, so I was really interested in the idea and in a more illustrated depiction of a person who would want to do this.
The main character is layered and well-developed. It's never said exactly what mental illness she has, but it looks like possibly Bipolar Disorder (and definitely PTSD), which I haven't seen depicted much on screen, so I commend the attempt at showing such a complex condition. And the main actor plays the part very well.
The beginning was very stimulating and stressful in a way that really elevated the horror, leading me to believe this would be a home run film. Then somewhere in the middle, the main "villain" is revealed and it's so utterly disappointing this character was depicted the way he was. It completely ruined the movie, in my opinion. All credibility was lost, and the final act was mostly just a steaming pile of crap. The main character was the only thing that made this movie watchable for the final half hour.
They should have gone deeper with her backstory and they should have completely rewritten the antagonist. Complete overhaul with him. What a disaster he was.
Overall, I felt let down. It's worth a watch, and entertaining enough, but the amount of wasted potential and pointless convoluted plot details took this from what I originally thought would be a 7 or an 8, to a (very generous) 5/10.
