#15 - The Houses October Built (2014)

The Houses October Built (2014)

(dir. Bobby Roe)

Do you like those haunted house attractions that pop up every Halloween, like the local "Fright Nights at the Fair"?  Do you wish that instead of going through them yourself, you could just watch shaky video of them shot with a hand-held camera?  If so, you're lazy, and also you might like this dumb movie for some reason.

A couple of friends decide to travel cross-country to find the most "extreme" haunted house attractions, in particular a reclusive haunt called "The Blue Skeleton" that changes locations every year.  As they get closer to finding it, strange things begin to happen, and it is unclear whether they are being stalked by psychos or if the attraction has come to them.  It's not a terrible idea for a movie, but the execution isn't very good.  Other than the last 10-15 minutes, literally all of the "scares" are just actors in the haunted houses jumping out in front of the camera.  It gets old really really fast.  I have nothing against a good jump scare, but the ones here are all pretty lame.

This film is based on a documentary with the same name shot a few years earlier - something tells me I would've been better off watching that instead.  Avoid this one.