Haunt Season

An aspiring young actress gets a job at a Halloween haunted attraction and finds the atmosphere is similar to a college campus. Before too long, a killer is picking off the cast members.

I started this was very low expectations, only half paying attention because I expected it to be the usual straight-to-streaming dreck. And although it does suffer from some of the low-budget trappings, I was gradually sucked in. The characters are likeable, fairly rounded and distinctive, the acting's surprisingly good, there are practical splatter FX, it's well shot with good tension... and I found myself weirdly rooting for the killer once their motivations became clear.

It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's an enjoyable little slasher movie (that would probably play really well with an audience), and it's better than a lot of similar stuff that you'll find on streaming. In 30 years, it could easily be a beloved cult classic.

I thought this was an enjoyable slasher flick.

The main actress Sarah Elizabeth has a natural beauty and a real poise that makes her down to earth and very likeable. I was surprised this was her first and only film credit. Hope to see more of her in future projects.

The other standout actress was Janet Jurado. She also brought that likeable realistic presence that just worked so well. Its always refreshing to see a character in a horror film that acts accordingly and not doing stupid things and getting killed.

This is a low budget film but I did like that it had the early 00s indie film look. I always enjoyed that aesthetic because it gives it a sense of realism but still has a cinematic look to it. In other words, it doesn't look cheap like some movies that even in recent years tend to look like they were shot on a camcorder.

The haunted house theme was fun to see because it focused more on the setup rather than having the viewer go all through the maze full of quick cuts and shaky cam. I thought the escape room setting was entertaining despite how brief it was. Its the characters that made every scene work. I liked the trio of girls in this that were relatable and "normal". They were the kind of people you could find in such a setting and just hang out with. There was no overdramtic acting or much in the way of cliches. I really appreciated that.

The costumes in this were interesting and varied enough to not make it the same old tired thing when it comes to slasher films. It did leave me wondering who the killer is for the first half of the film.

I would think that this film was lacking maybe another 15 to 20 minutes just for the sake of spending more time with these likeable characters. When people were getting killed off , it was sad, but I felt like the emotion could really be taken up a notch if those characters had more screen time.

The villain...while not great.. was imposing in his own way. I think the reveal was maybe too soon but I did like that we see that villain a little off the rails , as opposed to someone that wants revenge or is disgruntled for something someone did.

The subtle jokes were cool to me. It continued in that down to earth , mellow, realistic sense. I think that dry humor was sarcastic but not all "in your face" like most low budget horror films tend to do.

The music fit certain scenes without being over the top or gimmicky. I thought the end credits track fit with the trio of characters. It kept me watching all till the very end.

Overall, I had a good time with this one. The trailer didn't exactly draw me in much, but I'm glad I went in with no expectations. I'd put this in the ranks of something like Satan's Little Helper, where you had a fairly basic premise, but with likeable realistic characters that keep you watching.

Even though it had a lot of bad reviews, I had to give this movie a chance just for the fact that it is set in a haunted attraction. This blossoming horror sub-genre hasn't produced very many great films yet, and maybe there won't be any more besides Hell House, but I will watch all of them I can find. Any time the action takes place in some kind of theme park or elaborate haunt, I will want to see how it turned out visually. I thought Haunt Season was one of the better efforts that has used this device. The characters were only midly interesting, but it was enough to make me want to see what happened to them. I do think it was pretty funny that one of the fake reviewers actually titled his post "Hard to believe this is an Independant film!" No one will NOT believe that. But I thought there was a level of effort visible that made me believe that this was made by people who really wanted to give us something fun, and I appreciate that.

Watched this because I knew the director from their PoPs series, which was great. Several of the actors from that also showed up here, unsurprisingly, and I liked to see them again.

This was a fun halloween film! I did not realize it was going to be literally haunted house carnival-based, which is a great setting for a movie about people getting killed, without it being really eerie or horrific. And it allows for a lot of kitchy props, which makes it budgetfriendly to make I imagine.

I felt the music and sound effects could have used more love, but I liked the actors' performances! Especially the killer was great, I felt like I knew them from something else, some bigger production.

I'll be showing this to my fiancee, who isn't into horror but I think she could appreciate a halloweeny slasher :)

All of these positive reviews were probably written by cast members or their friends and family because it's just ridiculous. I'm severely mad that I had to pay 8 bucks to see this. It's definitely giving off school project vibes.

The acting isn't absolutely terrible, but it's not all that great either. There's too much talking and hanging out and not enough of anything scary whatsoever. The main thing that made me write this review is the obvious lies that the positive reviews gush. I hate when people involved with the movie take it upon themselves to comment. They bump this movie up to a 5.9 rating when it should be nowhere near it.