The Houses October Built Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A group of friends looking for an extreme horror experience find more than they bargained for.

Review: Just in time for my reviews, we get a new Halloween horror film that is the first to add found-footage to the mix--whether that's a good thing or not. Upon my initial viewing, I was surprisingly impressed, but the more I think about this film, the lower the rating goes. It's an odd situation because they do a lot of things correctly, and I applaud them for creating an unsettling atmosphere. However, the ending is lackluster and a lot of the coolest aspects were borrowed. At the same time, the direction itself was off as the film was attempting to make the events feel believable while introducing farfetched scenarios; you can't go for realism while simultaneously introducing events that could only be explained away through the supernatural. Okay, let's have a little look, shall we?

Right from the beginning, the film establishes that they will be portraying the evils of "regular" humans; I use quotes not because "regular" is a subjective term, but because I question the capabilities of an everyday person to pull off this shit. Anyway, I think this approach worked in the movie's favor to a degree. The story is simply a group of friends who (allegedly) have a high threshold for scares and want to take things up a notch. They are exploring the backwater parts of the USA trying to find a horror attraction that goes balls to walls and beyond. Despite many attractions interacting with the visitors more directly, the group is still unimpressed. Along the way, however, the group has caught the attention of a truly underground horror attraction that takes things to the limits--big shock, this attraction actually kills the patrons. There is a decent, and downright respectable, setup for this attraction, but it's a lot easier to accept its existence at face value than if you take a closer look. You also have sprinkles of, what's supposed to be, real people discussing the limitations, or lack thereof, to the lengths people will go to scare others. These edits give the audience the implications as to why there would be killers working at attractions since most are hired with little constraint. So the group finds themselves semi-stalked and invited to this underground attraction where they obviously meet their fate. This leads to an abrupt ending that was already showcased in the opening as a lame attempt to build tension.

Starting off with what the film did correctly, I will once again reiterate the successful use of atmosphere; this is the single best thing going for the film. You have a countdown to Halloween, creepy characters from each attraction following the group and lurking in the background, and an overall sense of dread. In this instance, the found-footage did help enhance the sense of realism as the camera was catching the stalkers when the characters weren't paying attention. The backwater aspect to the USA is always disturbing since not even people in the USA want to be stuck alone in those areas, and this aspect was presented reasonably well. I must give credit to the horror attractions featured as they looked well done, and I'd love to visit them myself. Plus, who doesn't love the notion of a haunted strip club and a paintball fight against zombies?! Lastly, I think the heart of the story was original and kind of creative even if many, many aspects felt like a ripoff of better films.

Unfortunately, the film has a ton of faults to be addressed. Just as I chastised "Hallow's Eve" for using an existing set, the majority of this film's highlights are taken right from existing Halloween attractions around the USA. Yes, I said this was a positive, but it's also a negative since it's unoriginal material being used to enhance a film that should have a story worthy to speak for itself. When you take out the indirect advertisements for those attractions, there's probably only 30-40 minutes of original material. The characters are mostly cliches we've seen a hundred times in found-footage; it's hard to explain, but writers try so hard to make the dialogue feel legitimate that it has taken on a whole new cliche that is tiresome. Beyond that, this really didn't need to be found-footage and would probably have benefited from a standard perspective. As I mentioned, the ending is anticlimactic and ends out of the blue with little to no resolution. So...uhhh...are the cops looking for the characters or who is supposedly behind the mockumentary style? I know it might be scary to believe this series of events could be possible, but, honestly, this is about as probable as Natre being at the end of my bed tonight. This brings me to the worst part for this film: you have a group of crazy people that have somehow organized in massive numbers across the country just for a few lulz killings once a year. You're telling me they're willing, and able, to drop what they're doing and stalk a random group of people? How were they tracking this group? They never seem to have a means of travel. The movie implies they communicate together through the internet, but how are they coordinating while supposedly performing at horror attractions?! The crazy people also materialize and dematerialize at one point. How did they make an envelope appear in a solid pumpkin?! Grow it that way? I know it's cool, but it's stupid at the same time. The way they have their killing attraction setup is too elaborate with too many factors that have to play out for it to even work. Ugh...I could go on all day with how ridiculous this setup is and why there would have to be a supernatural element in play to cover all the contrivances. This blatant disregard for logic, while claiming to want realism, hurt the film considerably. If things had been left ambiguous they could have easily covered their bases but nope.

Overall, this film is a mixed bag that can probably go either way with your first viewing. There are plenty of admirable qualities to be found, and the film's approach was done interestingly enough. I can certainly understand someone seeing this as a genuinely scary movie while a closer look will reveal the lack of polish. The main trouble spots clearly being the underwhelming ending and the lack of scope to the villains. At the same time, I think found-footage is burning many casual viewers out; and I'm growing weary myself. In light of my criticisms, I would still recommend checking this film out as a "Halloween" alternative, because it's entertaining enough to warrant a rental or more. Just keep in mind the problems and your expectations should be met.

Notable Moment: When the porcelain girl is brought into the RV. This was a good use of a cool character, but, in the end, she was fundamentally wasted.

Final Rating: 5.5/10