The
Houses That October Built
(2014/Image Entertainment Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B+ Extras: B+ Film: B-
From
the producer of Insidious
and Paranormal
Activity
comes a film that will make you question the safety of Haunted House
attractions like people feared the water when they saw Jaws
for the first time!
The
Houses That October Built
is found footage filmmaking done right with creepy scenes, characters
that you don;t completely hate, and creativity that keeps you glued
to your seat until the unsettling climax. Presumably inspired by a
documentary of the same name and director (from Bobby Roe in 2011),
the film takes us through a typical campy horror movie storyline but
uses interviews with real actors in haunted houses to help sell the
realism and blur the lines between fact and fiction.
Beneath
the fake blood and cheap masks of countless haunted house attractions
across the country, there are whispers of truly terrifying
alternatives. Looking to find an authentic, blood-curdling good
fright for Halloween, five friends set off on a road trip in an RV to
track down these underground Haunts for a documentary film that they
are making. Just when their search seems to reach a dead end,
strange and disturbing things start happening as members from Haunts
start following and disturbing them.
A
few scenes of the film are really effective using the 'found footage'
way of storytelling including one scene where the group finds a
recorded video of themselves all sleeping at night... realizing that
none of them could have shot it and that these Haunters have quietly
intruded their personal space. Another scene involves a tight back
alley where creepy Haunters appear out of the darkness and attack the
cameraman from both sides... these scenes wouldn't have worked
without the found footage 'gimic' and I felt where really creepy and
effective.
My
only complaint is primarily the film's climax (which I won't spoil)
but felt that the filmmakers could have gone further. The motives of
these creepy characters following the group are unknown (which adds
to the scare factor) but the movie just kind of ends. From one
perspective this makes sense as it makes the footage appear more
'lost' but it brings us several more questions such as how was this
footage 'found' in the first place?
Typical
of found footage movies, the transfer is mix of various camera codecs
- some of which are grainer than others but due to the nature of the
film we wouldn't want it any other way. The transfer is in a sharp
1080p high definition and a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with an
English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio track to boost up the scares.
The
disc is loaded with extras including a feature length behind the
scenes documentary that inspired the film, 'Behind the Screams' - an
inside look at the Haunts featured in the film, 'Portrait of a Scare
Artist' Photo Gallery, Cast Carvings by 'The Pumpkin Geek' and
Deleted Scenes.
If
you are fan of films like You're
Next
or The
Purge
- then this film is definitely one that you will want to check out!
Recommended.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
