House of Fears

i saw this a month or 2 ago at a horror festival in LA. if you're going into this knowing it will be just another horror movie where horny teens end up somewhere and get hacked up, that's what it is. What makes the film interesting is the cinematography and creatism of the killings, and the mansion as a whole. it was shot very coolly (I know this isn't a word), some good temperatures to convey moods and the diff rooms / fears etc.. the ending though was unfortunately predictable, much like the characters. I found myself shouting at the screen, "just go! He's gonna get you!" etc.. i was engaged, but for the wrong reasons. the film had the same cheesy girl in distress, big hunky guy leads the pack, funny guy and black dude. very well done for the budget. Some of the acting needed to be tightened, A LOT. Michael Pagan was the best, I'd like to see him again. Eliot Benjamin was relatively funny, and he looks to be pretty new so good luck to his career. The movie didn't attempt to change or go beyond the horror genre that we've been looking at for the past "forever," but again, if you go in knowing this, you'll end up liking it. it's very fun, and a good time. I'd definitely watch it again. on a scale of 1 - 10 in horror land, i give it a 6.5 while in overall movie land, i give it a 4.

Jp

This is an ok by the numbers cliche ridden horror. Zero originality but ok to watch if nothing better to do. Usual annoying characters, zero plot.

Puzzling is that at the party scene Jared Padalecki (Supernatural/Friday the 13th Remake) appears in a doorway and promptly disappears!? Is this a cameo? In joke? Friend of director? When I sae him him I knsta fly thought.....ah the quality if the film just got a little better if he's in it.......then hes never seen again.

Most odd.

Watch if nothing better to see. Far better films in though. Maybe it was a Directors first film and way into the industry. Its shot well etc and is far from terrible. Just unoriginal.

Every night I'll trundle upstairs to bed and stick a film on, very often I'll roll the dice and watch the first one I see on Youtube which is normally a big mistake.

This time I came across House Of Fears starring Corey Sevier and found myself interested in this mid budget horror title which has overwhelming similarities to Dark House (2009).

I ended up falling asleep and chose to pick it up the next day only to realise upon going on IMDb that I'd already seen it.

This is the first time this has ever happened, though a couple of scenes seemed familiar (Especially the sand pit part) I thought it was just because I watch so many films.

What does this tell you about House Of Fears? That though it isn't a bad film, it's instantly forgettable!

The Good:

Perfectly watchable effort

Decent concept

The Bad:

Generic Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I am capable of forgetting a watched a film altogether even when watched again!

Haunted house films aren't too common anymore, and unfortunately, some don't handle the concept well.

People in a haunted house doubling as a fake haunted house get terrorized by various apparitions, pretty similar to the Fangoria horror festival's "Dark House" but without the cheese.

The problem? When a horror movie isn't scary, I'd prefer watching a cheesy film over one that leaves me thinking, "okay, that guy died, meaning after this character, this one, and this one die it'll be time for protagonists to defeat (insert villain here)".

Dark House was very fun; House of Fears was memorable despite not being good, but I must admit because I've recently seen Dark House, this movie seemed less entertaining than before, and it wasn't all that entertaining to begin with.

Maybe worth a rental, otherwise, watch some other film.

A relatively tame film about teenagers who sneak into a common fear-themed haunted house attraction before it's due to open, where their fears actually can come to life and kill them because of an evil statuette. Possibly the lack of violent or sexual content was due to the movie being shot in the very Mormon state of Utah?

The things they're afraid of are not very focused, in that they don't just attack or kill the person who has the fear, but go after everybody. Some people get injured or killed by things that as far as we know, nobody was afraid of. It's a little weird that way. In the advertising for the film I'd read, there was mention of "sinister clowns, killer scarecrows." There's really only one of each and the clown barely gets any screen time at all.

The characters aren't particularly interesting. The women are pretty, while the guys are somewhat goofy-looking. Corri English's Samantha is a little more developed by virtue of some backstory accompanied by flashbacks which are fairly well-done.

Cydney Neil, former owner and operator of the Rocky Point Haunted House in Salt Lake City briefly appears as herself. A shame more use wasn't made of her.

The director is listed as the producer for an upcoming film titled Hell House, which oddly appears to have the same plot.