The Houses October Built 2

Though the first movie was hardly spectacular it was original and certainly memorable. It told the story of a group of friends who went on a road trip to various "Halloween horror houses". Basically horror attractions, which really do exist and I find fascinating.

Their adventure ended badly last time but here they have picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and are doing it again.

Now last time it was a successful slow build, this time it's a very slow build with no real payoff. What I mean by that is the movie is presented in a documentary form and remains like that for 9/10 of the film so very little actually happens. If you're interested in these horror haunts however you'll have a blast as they are the real thing including the Zombie Pub Crawl and Zombie Run which are annual events.

The movie does have a fantastic twist but I think it was handled very poorly. Top that off with the distinct lack of actual movie content and I found this to be a huge let down. I went in with expectations and they simply weren't met.

Once again it has a real charm and is very original, but just doesn't entertain like it should have. I'd love to see a third and final part to meet its potential and finish the story.

The Good:

Great idea

Very original

The Bad:

Some weird cinematography choices

The behaviour of the characters is simply not believable

More a faux documentary than an actual movie

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I'd love to do a roadtrip of these things!

I thought the ending was a great plot twist. I really don't get all the negative reviews. It had me fooled. I never saw that coming.

Unlike a lot of horror fans, I liked the first The Houses October Built. I liked seeing the backwoods, indie haunts and I thought it was a creative idea to weave a plot into what was, basically, just a Haunted House Road Trip.

This one just seems like a way for the filmmakers to get paid to go on another Haunted House road trip, only with a much more flimsy and boring plot.

Unfortunately, the places they visit are even more boring than in the first film because of a very weak premise involving one of the main characters. The events look fun enough, but far from scary, even in person, much less on film.

I gave this movie 4 stars because I like seeing indie haunts from across the country. Also, in general, I like the premise of seeking the extreme, or seeking forbidden knowledge, then being rewarded with more than you bargained for.

The first 'The Houses October Built' blew me away back in 2014. I went in with almost zero expectations and left astonished by how good it was. Did I have my hopes up for the sequel being able to live up to that same level? No, they almost never do after all particularly in the horror genre. Did I hope for more quality than I got though? Absolutely, this was bordering on one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. Does it detract from what the original put forward? Unfortunately yes it does in a big way.

By about the 1 hour 15 minute mark I thought to myself: has anything actually happened yet? The answer was no. Sure we had seen some fun haunted houses (or hay rides apparently) and there was the weirdly edited shots of the clown masked guy following them, however this felt more like a documentary to that point than anything else. It was filler, plain and simple. It's absolutely unacceptable for a horror movie to run for an hour and 40 minutes with that little happening in the opening 75 minutes. No excuse for that whatsoever.

Then the big final sequence (or the pay off if you wish to call it that) begins and I think to myself: this better bloody be worth it. Well let me assure you it wasn't. It was poorly done, predictable and thought it was a hell of a lot smarter than it actually was. The editing was also very poor in that final sequence. Possibly the best done scene in the entire film was the very final one with the sign, however that had basically nothing to do with the film, so bravo. Please stay away from this film. Not only is it terrible, there's a very good chance it will ruin the original for you too. Yuck.

Fast forward till only 30 minutes remains and then start watching the film.

Nothing significant happens during the other 70 minutes. Interviewing horror show groups, visiting their horror shows, travelling in the RV from one town to another searching for horror shows, and interviewing them. Felt like a documentary film.

So, if you really want to watch this, watch only the last 30 minutes of the film and you have the entire story covered.