The Scarehouse

Just by watching the trailer you can get a good idea of what this movie is going to be about. I am a big horror buff, and I enjoy even the worst B-rated horror movies. Scarehouse is definitely in that category, but it takes a swing and misses on many aspects that other B-rated movies do well.

Let me say this before continuing. Horror movies lately have rarely ever made me truly feel a moment of dread, but they typically have a story you can roll your eyes at, but The Scarehouse is painful to watch even for the strongest movie buff.

I wont give a synopsis since you can read it on IMDb, but I will say that it's a petty story of revenge. The movie looks like it was done on a budget, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The setting fits very well for the direction the story wanted to go in. I did enjoy that there were no moments when I couldn't see what was happening and there are never any moments that purposely attempt to make you jump. That is about the only place this movie shines at. The acting honestly is not bad. All the actress did a believable job for a horror movie of this class, but the short roles of the male actors felt unrehearsed and thrown together to quickly.

The problem with this movie is its terrible story telling. You are given bits and pieces of past events through out the movie, and by time the climax comes it still doesn't feel like any of the actions are justified even slightly. The whole movie plays out like an emotional teenagers diary. I usually don't mind revenge tales, but this one just didn't pull me in.

FINAL VERDICT: For a horror movie the lead actresses are the only reason you may stay. The performance is not Oscar worthy, but I did not find myself hating it. The story is poorly done and ruins any possible chance of enjoying this movie. Mixed with torture and a late climax you're better off watching paint dry for the evening.

I don't mind watching the odd horror movie which has you on the edge of your seat with a decent story and great acting. (or even average acting) This has none of them, its like something a bunch of kids would make with gore for the sake of it and silly cheap thrills like young girls half naked messing around in a room it has absolutely no suspense or story nothing keeps you gripped to the screen to see what happens next. I actually started to fast forward the movie in places hoping things would improve..... but they did not.

If you gave a camera and some fake blood to a teenage and told him to go and make a horror movie this is what he would come up with

This started off ok. I had to figure out the story since it was done with flashbacks. The two culprits were just as much as fault as the others. Instead of moving on, they want revenge. I wanted so bad for someone to kill them first. Very unlikeable characters as I wanted them to just go away. Sorry, the story line was old and nothing but a bunch of women cussing and talking dirty. I don't understand why anyone would join or try to join a sorority. Seems they are the evil students at school. I can see why they went to jail and not the others. They od the guy by using too much. Then they acted like fools. It was better than I thought it was going to be. Just don't expect much. Oh yeah, bad acting.

Honestly at a loss to all the 1 star reviews, to say the least. I prefer to start any movie with default/neutral 5 and go from there, and have never dropped below 3 (for House of Fears, an utterly lifeless Halloween flick that somehow rates higher than this...)

I've seen plenty of Halloween-based flicks and this is definitely on the upper range, with most being passable 5s or slightly positive 6. I'd rate this 8 along with Rob Zombies Halloween (Carpenter original getting 10).

It is essentially torture porn as two girls enact a plan of torture kill revenge. Some of the scenes become quite uncomfortable, but I can't see this being any worse than Saw, which has a much higher rating? Granted their justification for such, revealed slowly throughout, is arguably weak compared to what is likely an overkill of revenge. In any event, it's just a movie, they were wronged but by varying degrees amongst their victims, and 2 years in jail didn't seem to help their state of mind.

The film is what it is, and it does what it does with a certain stylish quality. The performances were solid all around, there are some nice Halloween-styled visuals, and the quality of film and music were above average for most Halloween films (granted the more modern ones have all seemingly reached a rather consistent tone here).

If the trailer strikes your fancy, you'll probably enjoy it. Another review very apt in "Mean Girls meets Saw." Reminded me of a behind the scenes/inverted take on Scream or Scream 2 in which we follow instead the killers point of view of events. Strangely enough it also felt at times like an alternative "Ginger Snaps" sequel in which the two sisters have averted lycan encounters and matured their outcast duet into a Halloween murder house (the one looks very much like the dark haired sis, and the other is even Ginger-esque and more often is the one pushing their plans moral boundaries).

"The Scarehouse" is yet another example as to what is wrong with the Canadian film industry. The biggest reason as to why the movie fails can be seen in its credits. The person who is given credit for the direction (Gavin Michael Booth) not only directed the movie, he is given credit for the script, editing, and as one of the movie's producers. The Canadian government loves to fund movie projects by "auteurs", even though there are very few people in the Canadian film industry (or film industries in other countries, for that matter) that can successfully take on more that one role on the production of a movie. Obviously, there was really no one on board this movie project that could interfere with Booth's vision, and as a result, this movie fails like so many vanity productions. The characters in the movie are all repulsive, the narrative is garbled, and the production values (such as with bargain basement cinematography and lighting) are absolutely rock bottom... among many other problems. While I'm glad that the Canadian government is starting to fund more commercial movies instead of just art house dramas, they still don't seem to understand that the bulk of the movies they are choosing to fund (regardless of genre) simply are doomed to failure because they are badly conceived vanity projects. Unless the Canadian government changes their policy, Canadians will continue to ignore their filmmakers' films.