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Saturday, August 25, 2012

The Haunted House Project Review



Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A documentary crew and a group of amateur ghost hunters explore an allegedly haunted cookie factory.

Review: Alright I must admit I am a sucker for these "found footage" films because I watched another one! This movie was such an utter disappointment for me though. This was a Korean horror film, and compared to other films from that country this was lacking severly in every aspect of what makes a horror film scary. First, it took way too long for anything to happen; I really don't know why they went in the direction of not even attempting to have small background scares to keep the audience interested or to build tension. The first "scary" thing we are supposed to see is a static camera effect I'm assuming to imply the presence of a spirit. Get used to this shoddy effect because it happens the whole second half of the film! From here on out, the film completely relies on jump scares until the final scene which I found so pathetic. Also, the jump scares are done so nonsensically; you have the setting as a haunted cookie factory and they never once make effective use of this choice. The film had completely lost me once the first ghost sighting came in the form of the ghost "trying" to be scary in an overlapped film effect. Why would they go that direction?! Just make the ghosts be in the room or wherever, but an overlapped film effect would imply the previous tape had captured the ghost...it just doesn't fit the context! And finally, the ending sucked and the most hyped moment, which you knew would come, is nothing more than a hand rather than a proper ghost effect! The acting did feel believable, the atmosphere was okay for a while, and I did like the premise, but virtually everything about this film is a failure or just mediocre. It's worth a view because it is kind of interesting, but seriously lower your expectations or you will be as disappointed as I was.

Notable Moment: A quick shot of the second floor of the haunted house reveals glowing eyes from within the shadows in which we're left guessing whether it belonged to an animal or something else.

Final Rating: 5/10

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