Halloween Haunt

I recently rented Haunt (2019) off Amazon Prime for $3.99 after months of feeling ashamed I had not seen it yet. The storyline is around a group of friends looking for a haunted house adventure and they find one. Once the haunted house activities begin they quickly realize everything around them is realer than it appears. This movie is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who also collaborated on Impulse, Spread and Nightlife. This movie stars Katie Stevens (Polaroid), Will Britain (Kong: Skull Island), Lauryn Alisa McClain (Superstition) and Andrew Lewis Caldwell (iZombie). The storyline itself is very straightforward but the protagonists are very unique and well presented. The kill scenes are excellent, well executed, quick and sudden without relying on too much CGI. This film actually reminded me of a better version of The Houses October Built 2. Overall this was a great modern slasher flick that is a must see for horror film fans. I'd score it a 8/10.

Well, it's not the perfect first-date movie, as it may happen that your beloved would hold you in her arms when you are sucking your thumb crying. :-) Well, I gave 7* because I think, the actual rating of 6.3 is too low, but I also fell 7* is a bit of exaggeration. What I was missing: more understanding of the story, less dumbdumb villains, less plotholes. But who knows, you'll see a sequel or a prequel and you will have the chance to learn more about the Devil, the Witch, the Clown, the Ghost and the Zombie. :-) For a horror movie, this is quite decent, refreshing, well-done!

What a pretty mask...

There are some fun ideas that they don't milk to heavy which allows them to stay fresh and can be expanded on if sequels happen. The film hosts some familiar elements to other horror movies so most will be comfortable in this title.

A main issue I have is that our main cast seemingly isn't into Halloween at all with a few of them even claiming to have forgotten the holiday was coming somehow. Which confuses me as to why they would search for an "extreme" haunt.

But their lack of Halloween gloom is made up for by our main Villains. For those who love Halloween; the Villains really make this movie a real treat!

Thematically similar to last year's Hell Fest, Haunt deals with similar territory, but it's different enough to not feel like you'd be wasting your time if you'd already seen the other film.

A battered young woman escapes from a Halloween evening with her abusive boyfriend and goes to hang out with her fun loving friends. They pick up some guys and drive around, wondering what to do next. They encounter a quaint haunted house attraction deep in the woods and decide that this should be how they spend their Halloween night. Since this this is a horror film, you can already guess that the performers inside might have more sinister and deadly motives than just supplying a good scare or two.

Haunt is a fairly simplistic movie, but the performances are mostly above average for a film of this sort and it's refreshing to see horror film characters do the right thing on multiple occasions. I can't say it's a tremendous, original take on the slasher genre, but it gets the job done and supplies a few jolts here and there.

The effects work is great and, when the villains' masks come off, it's a pretty horrifying sight. I do wish that, perhaps, there was a bit more backstory about this haunted house and the performers who inhabit it. How long has this been up? Have they done this in other locations? The logistics were hurting my head a bit, but thankfully, the movie moves so quick that you don't have a lot of time to think about such things as you're watching it.

I feel like a 6 is fair for this one. Don't get the 10 and 1 star reviews.

This movie is not deep and doesn't invest you in a backstory for the villains. I would like to know more about them.

Of course some parts seemed illogical i.e. why is this group of kids (or rather a couple of them) better equipped to fight than a bunch of bad guys who set up this intricate house full of traps and mazes. The bad guys truly sucked at fighting.

If I think too deeply about it, I could see why it gets a lower rating from many but I know better than to take a serial killer haunted house themed movie too seriously.

I jumped once towards the end and was in suspense the rest of the time. So all in all, worth a watch, especially alone at night.