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

I enjoyed watching House Of Fears and found it to be a good film. It starts. The night before a local haunted house opens for Halloween, six friends break in for a evening of fun. Soon after entering, the house they find themselves trapped inside with no way out. They try and find a way to get themselves out but they find that every escape is blocked, They are unable to tell between what is real and what is not. They find out that their worst nightmare has come a they get deeper into trouble as they lose where each of the friends are. They must help each other to find a way out. This film ended up being very good, and i much better film that i though it was going to be.

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.

It sucks that imdb forces people to have to use 600 characters these days, despite the fact that some reviewers can leave a single sentence and their review is allowed to be posted. Maybe they pay for some premium membership, I cannot say.

But aside from my complaint about that, which in a way is helping me to satisfy the vapid IMDB need for 600 character reviews, as I stated in the title : THE MOVIE was JUST ok at times, but the set stole the show. It wasnt anything truly spectacular. It was just extensive. Either they shot in a number of locales or in one big studio lot. Or maybe they went to actual funhouses. They pulled a lot of strings and the quality of the film with its lighting and all was fairly good. It was just missing something to make it more palpable, including better acting. 5/10.

Six friends sneak into a haunted house the night before it opens for Halloween, only to find that their evening of fun has turned into their worst nightmare.

Corri English (playing Samantha) may now be known to horror fans who watch "Holliston" (if you do not watch it, you should), but she was largely unknown when appearing here in a starring role. On the flip side, Jared Padalecki (as "JP") was probably well-known at this point and appears anonymously (uncredited). How they got Padalecki is unclear.

The film has an interesting style and coloration (sort of a purposely blurry, washed-out look). And a haunted houses where the fears come to life is always a steady source of horror goodness. But I just did not see much to make this one stand out, and it has been understandably forgotten.