A Haunted House

First off, if you go into this movie with high expectations, you'll hate it, plain and simple. But if you just want to watch a funny movie with some friends then definitely give this movie a chance! It's somewhat of a spoof on the "Paranormal Activity" films. Marlon Wayans plays the main character who buys a brand new video camera for the moving in of his girlfriend. He then gets camera's set up around his house for security purposes.

Right off the bat, his girlfriend suspects there's a ghost in the house and like in the "Paranormal" films he doesn't believe it. Some scenes are similar, but take a huge change and it becomes funny. Sure some of the jokes are over the top but for the most part, are hilarious.

Cedric the Entertainer makes an appearance towards the end of the film and his scenes are great. Bottom line, watch this movie to get a good laugh. 6/10 for exceeding my expectations.

*1/2 out of **** (ROTTEN)

Channel the New Year. Already in the second week, the Tomato Meter is at its lowest- a dashing seven percent, and with a spoof movie. This cannot end well. I will admit, the trailer had me chuckling. I'm big on stereotypical humor, and from time to time I like to succumb myself to just stupid, dumb fun. Being a fan of the first Scary Movie certainly doesn't hurt matters.

With that being said, "A Haunted House" is exactly what you'd expect... and not much else. In terms of humor, the ratio's about 2:5. That might seem like a bad mark, which it is, but for a film that aims at the lowest common denominator and scores a higher denominator, it's not too shabby. Acting/story, well, you don't go to these kinds of movies for that. Same goes for editing/choreography.

There's not much you can say about this film. This is one of those cases where you either are the audience FOR this film or you're not. If you're a fan of the first two Scary Movies, have an admiration for the Wayans brothers, and dig the advertisements for this film, you'll walk out of there with some good laughs here and there. If you completely despise these movies, or this type of humor in general, you'll walk out feeling cheated.

However, be warned, this is NOT a kids film (ala a Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer production or even the last Scary Movies that were PG-13). Tons of sex scenes (played for laughs though), nudity, drugs, and such abound.

All in all, it's not as bad as you're led to believe, but it's still pretty flimsy.

Okay if you've seen the first Scary Movie and laughed, you'll find this funny. I like silly/dumb funny so I was cracking up at many parts. Some folks are looking for witty, award winning comedy, full of heartfelt all-around good jokes. If this is you, skip out on this one. Overall, I'd give it a 6.5/7. Some parts were simply dumb, but that's to be expected. If you have 10 bucks, an hour and a half, and you wouldn't mind a laugh or two, I say go for it. If you're looking for wit, class, and style, keep it moving. Still unsure? Okay I'll tell you the movie, without spoiling it. Basically a guy has his girlfriend move into his house. He's skeptical, because his friends have warned him about the dangers of having a girlfriend move in, ya know, no more dream-girlfriend. Anyways, she moves in and stuff starts getting weird. With the increasing weirdness, more characters are introduce to help stop the weirdness. It's a movie with a simple plot, simple characters, and a silly flow. If this sounds good to you, you'll love it!

A Haunted House (2013)

*** (out of 4)

Malcolm (Marlon Wayans) moves his girlfriend Kisha (Essence Atkins) in with him and soon they start to encounter the paranormal. Look, I'll freely admit that I walked into A HAUNTED HOUSE with incredibly low expectations but within the first minute I had tears running down my face from laughing so hard. I'll admit that I'm shocked at how much I enjoyed this thing but unlike SCARY MOVIE and other spoofs, this film here isn't just a copycat of the films it's spoofing but instead it's actually a well thought out comedy that has a lot of imagination that takes it down various funny roads. If you've seen SCARY MOVIE (or countless other spoofs) then you know there's always going to be some pot jokes. Well, this film here contains a pot gag and it was one of the funniest scenes I've seen in any movie in a very long time. The majority of the gags really hit their mark, which is so impressive considering that they're being thrown at the very every few seconds. As you'd expect the majority of the jokes are vulgar and cheap but what's most important is that they're funny. We get fart jokes, gay jokes, racial jokes as well as making fun of countless horror movies and they all work. Wayans turns in one of his funniest performances is ages and his scene in the bathtub is just downright classic in oh so many ways. Atkins is also extremely good in her role and takes a lot of abuse but the two have such great chemistry that you can't help but laugh. Nick Swardson, David Koechner, Dave Sheridan and Cedric the Entertainer play the people who get involved with the ghosts and all add some terrific laughs. A HAUNTED HOUSE wasn't made to win Oscars or be taken serious. It's a spoof and for the most part it's actually a lot better than many of the films that it's making fun of.

If you are bored then watch this it is hilarious love it but if felt like they were on budget