Wednesday, July 29, 2015

The Houses October Built

Bobby Roe – 2014 – USA
 
If you haven’t had your fill of found-footage horror films yet – (and that can only be the case if you’ve only seen two or three), The Houses October Built is worth seeing because of its interesting premise and effective scares.  As you might imagine, the scares are about as cheap as they come, but a jump is a jump, and if that’s what you like, this movie shouldn’t disappoint.  A group of friends obsessed with Halloween season spook houses head off in a camper on a tour of the best they can find, always eager for the most extreme thrill possible.  It isn’t long before they get a lead on one traveling “haunt” that is supposed to be the most intense of them all.  It isn’t long before the gang becomes aware that someone is following them and toying with them, most likely the crew of this haunt they’ve been looking for.  I enjoyed the film throughout, but I was frequently distracted by the thoughtless implausibility of so many cameras that just happen to be mounted everywhere where characters might go.  Where except for realty TV shows and found footage horror films do you ever see such set-ups?  It just seems like a pointless source of frustration in a movie that has a lot going for it without that worn-out gimmick.  I did admire the fact that the film doesn’t degenerate into a cliché-ridden cop-out in its final moments.  It follows its theme of thrill-seeking to its logical conclusion.

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