The Houses October Built

Five hard drinking friends go on a booze-fuelled roadtrip looking for the most extreme haunted house experience America's backcountry has to offer. It's actually a fantastic premise as the film-makers are able to play with loads of creepy imagery, ratcheting up the tension without shooting their bolt too soon. The assumption is that none of it is real, but underlying these visits is the tension that... what if they aren't? For a low-budget film the acting and the script is really good. Found footage always benefits from believable characters exchanging natural dialogue, which is what you get here without a doubt. Some of the back and forth is actually pretty funny and at times I found myself chuckling along; which I think is a good thing in a horror film as it builds a rapport between the viewer and characters, which draws you into their world. It's a pretty slow film all told and the last act spoiled the build up for me, leaving me rather unsatisfied.

Was I sad I watched it though? Hell no! This film is all about the tension and the imagery. The uncertainty, the questioning of what's real and what isn't. It isn't perfect, but with a few simple tweaks and a better ending, it could have been. If you like horror and you like found footage, this film will totally entertain you. If you liked the trailer and you're sitting on the fence, get off that fence and stick it on. It gets more right than wrong, some of the scenes are so downright creepy they'll be knocking around in my psyche for some time to come.

Nevermind the actual film, the idea is one of the most potent I've seen in some time.

A group of friends set out in a van in search of horror, haunted house attractions scattered around rural America. It's the days leading up to Halloween so we can have a pervasive atmosphere of masks and monsters roaming the streets. I like that it's a glimpse outside the usual and tied to a larger fabric of make-believe.

The idea is that we'll venture into these houses where horror is supposed to be controlled around us, the work of fiction, only to discover more slippery boundaries of truth. This would touch at the very essence of horror, exploiting the same perturbations that move viewers in both the actual houses and film; see, we know it's not real, but what to do when your body tells you otherwise?

So nevermind that it's actors we see and scripted reactions. Some of the most potent footage here are from within these houses where we go in with a camera and a swirl of monsters lunges at us, staged but it comes alive. I'm guessing these are actual places that partnered with the filmmakers and this is what tantalized me going in; it would be at least in part an actual tour of that America that goes to pilgrimage in actual places.

They manage to bungle this for my taste, the part where fiction blurs and we go to something that comes alive in the moment of watching.

For one, they chose the "found footage" mode (silly name, largely the baggage of Blairwitch - it really means "someone is filming this now"). It's the most apt choice I've seen since Last Exorcism, but no one ever films a sense of place and passing time, a physical sense of journey; they waste it on lots of blathering around a camera so that it ends up feeling like an episode of cable TV. Indicative of the actual makers holding the camera I guess.

And then there's the ending. This is where the staged scenarios in these attractions don't cut it any more as the characters push for more and more "real" stuff. Lo, there's rumor of a secret place that you can only reach by invitation. But once there, it's the most obviously staged part of the film, the complete opposite of where we were meant to be viewing-wise.

So this is a miss, filmmakers with maybe the strongest idea of any of their peers this year but none of the tools of insight to cultivate it. They outline enough for me to imagine it in more intuitive hands so all in all I would have this over the next paranormal film.

Someone has gone out with the urge for horror in mind (and it's our very urge to inhabit illusion that made us build these houses), thinking he knows illusion from real, but it begins to spill outside, perturbing reality. From a certain point on, the apparitions become aware of someone watching, aware inside the fiction, so conspire to stage the real thing as a cosmic prank that shatters lives.

Watch The Funhouse, Hooper's film driven by the same instinct, a funhouse that extends from the actual place to haunt the whole film.

I scored this high because it isn't like any movie I've seen before. Its not as much as scary as it is creepy, however. In my opinion, its a movie that plays more on an individuals phobias than anything else for that kind of fear factor. I won't go into detail because I don't want to spoil it for anyone - but you have to be into hand held camera movies like 'The Blair Witch Project' to enjoy it.

I read through the negative 'don't waste your time' comments and came across a positive one which swayed it for me, I watched it and wasn't disappointed, so hopefully you won't be either. Its original, realistic, and if you get really into it, it will certainly creep you out.

I give this movie a four out of ten overall on IMDb's scale out of ten points.

For writing I give it a four out of ten. It is not terrible but also nothing special. It is a pretty easy story line that you can see the plot developments coming in. There are twists but they are the typical kind of horror and thriller movie twists that you can see coming a mile away. The dialogue is not bad but nothing really stands out as great and most of all there is nothing about the story or script that sticks with you.

For acting I give it a four out of ten as well. There are some good actors and some bad and even terrible actors but most of them are decent to average.

For production value I give it a five out of ten. The picture looks great and the shots they show are pretty interesting and keep you interested until the end. The horror movie shots are typical but well done. Again nothing special that stands out or is very memorable but definitely nothing too awful either. The sets etc are all decent. The sound is also good though at times I thought the music or score were too loud.

I've been using IMDB for over a decade and this is the first time I felt the need to leave a review. This film was boring start to finish. Not once did my heart race or was I ever remotely startled. Seriously, don't waste your time on this film. Found footage horror is my absolute favorite, and now I know why I've never even heard of this film until today, despite it being 6 years old.