The Houses October Built

Set up as a "real footage" amateur documentary, a group of friends set off to find real scares on Halloween. They encounter various run of the mill "haunted" attractions and begin to inquire with the locals if they know of any "really scary" happenings in the area but are pretty much rebuffed. The build up in this movie is slow, but if you stay with it, the atmosphere will seep into you. Once the group gives up their search as fruitless, things begin to change, and the "real scary" things start to find them. I guess I am a sucker for silent, masked, boogeymen because they were effective in my book. May not be for everyone but I was glad I gave it a watch.

Five hard drinking friends go on a booze-fuelled roadtrip looking for the most extreme haunted house experience America's backcountry has to offer. It's actually a fantastic premise as the film-makers are able to play with loads of creepy imagery, ratcheting up the tension without shooting their bolt too soon. The assumption is that none of it is real, but underlying these visits is the tension that... what if they aren't? For a low-budget film the acting and the script is really good. Found footage always benefits from believable characters exchanging natural dialogue, which is what you get here without a doubt. Some of the back and forth is actually pretty funny and at times I found myself chuckling along; which I think is a good thing in a horror film as it builds a rapport between the viewer and characters, which draws you into their world. It's a pretty slow film all told and the last act spoiled the build up for me, leaving me rather unsatisfied.

Was I sad I watched it though? Hell no! This film is all about the tension and the imagery. The uncertainty, the questioning of what's real and what isn't. It isn't perfect, but with a few simple tweaks and a better ending, it could have been. If you like horror and you like found footage, this film will totally entertain you. If you liked the trailer and you're sitting on the fence, get off that fence and stick it on. It gets more right than wrong, some of the scenes are so downright creepy they'll be knocking around in my psyche for some time to come.

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.

This movie is about 5 friends - 4 guys, 1 girl - who go on a roadtrip to various Halloween haunted houses. Along the way, they discover some rather weird people. Still, they're not satisfied with the "Mickey Mouse" halloween houses, so they opt for those of a darker, more realistic nature, which they soon find. Some of them chase the group of out the houses with chainsaws. That leads the group to wonder just how far some people will go not just to scare the guests, but to also a thrill for themselves, which is the message of the movie: How far will people go for a thrill.

The acting was good enough for what this was. Brandy Schaefer - the lead actress - is hot She reminded me a lot of Danielle Harris :D It's filmed through camcorders, which is an overused and rather annoying leftover gimmick from The Blair Witchcraft days. The movie finally starts moving along about 20 minutes before it ends; it's running time is 91 minutes, so yeah it's a bit boring up until then. I've heard there was an underworld of drugs, sex, and other dark vises, but I guess this movie is trying to say there's an underworld of Halloween houses, too. lol There is some nudity in this. The group goes to a strip club, and there are topless dancers with some of the fakest breasts I've ever seen.

I gave this a 4-star rating. The storyline about visiting haunted houses was original, and as I said, the acting was pretty good for a low-budget indie. I love Halloween; it's probably my favorite holiday, but this movie did very little to keep me interested. Most of it had the group traveling from one haunted house to another. It wasn't very enthralling. But if you're a fan of found-footage films, you might enjoy this more than I did. I would not watch this again because of the bore-factor.

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.