Director: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods
Year: 2019
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Heading out for Halloween, a group of friends decides to check out a local haunted house nearby, and as they go through the attraction come to believe the masked hosts are trying to kill them which is eventually proven true forcing them to try to get away from the establishment alive.
Review:
This one was a highly enjoyable effort. Among the film’s best qualities is the initial setup and arrival at the main haunt which has a lot to like. The groups’ journey to the haunt by being out among friends with their struggles before deciding to leave for the haunted attraction has a realistic bent to it and comes to their arrival in a fun manner just stumbling upon it by chance as a side-of-the-road attraction that feels quite realistic and appropriate.
That leads into the general air of the attraction which feels very much like a genuine local attraction. Filled with cheesy Halloween decor, skeletons are strewn all over and dark lights hiding masked costumers, the maze-like structure and rooms filled with tasks need to perform to move on gives this a fantastic setup and creepy atmosphere. That this gets carried out without them truly knowing if they’re out to hurt them but believing they aren’t adds some tension to the scenes as well, all making this more suspenseful than it should be.
The other big factor here is the strong second half that features plenty of fun with their being stalked and hunted. Once it’s obvious that the haunt was not going right and they’re in danger, there’s some great stalking through the various rooms and corridors in the building, even including the big brawls against them once there’s enough weaponry on hand to fight back. Generating some fine brutality and gore on both sides, these are exceptionally fast-paced and fun making for quite a lot to like overall.
The film does have some minor flaws. The biggest detriment here is the inability to make sense of how the attraction should work. There’s no instructions or directions here as to how they’re supposed to operate the event before they turned psychotic and started going after the group. As well, the entire subplot about the abused childhood doesn’t really need to be included here, merely pointing to a coda that’s meaningless and serves no purpose based on what’s written here that’s barely worth mentioning. These here are the only flaws.
Overview: ****/5
Despite missing a few key elements here and some unnecessary moments at play, the idea of the attraction as a whole takes on more positives than expected which is enough to hold this one up overall. This is certainly worthwhile for fans of this kind of modern slasher effort or appreciate the mindset of small-town haunts, while those that don’t enjoy that kind of style should look to this with caution.
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