eVil Sublet (2024) by Allan Piper

Director: Allan Piper

Year: 2024

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Ghosts; Horror/Comedy

Plot:

Looking for a new apartment, a couple takes up residence in a cheap apartment rumored to be haunted which proves to be true when they start to encounter a slew of paranormal activity that drives them toward a special investigator to look into what’s going on in their house.

Review:

This was a rather solid genre outing that has a lot going for it. Most of the film’s points are centered around its comedy, where the idea of this one utilizing just about everything as a comedic joke offers a lot to like. The central silliness of the situation, where everyone is completely aware of the haunted nature of what’s going on but leaving everything to chance just because of the situation they find themselves in, manages to be such a fun recurring joke that it drives much of the humor here. Knowingly moving in and not bothering to deal with the haunted nature of the apartment because of the cheap rent and prominent spot it’s located in makes a lot of the situation gags and general awkwardness of everything feel far funnier than necessary, with some of this all brought about attempted hauntings such as running objects that shouldn’t be operating, hallucinations of figures not really there, or noticing odd happenings but brushing it all off for the sake of staying in the apartment they have for cheap.

While this gives the film a great sense of fun, it does so at the expense of downgrading the horror into a near nonexistent glaze that might be the entire point of the experience but still doesn’t help enhance that at all. Far too much of the supposed hauntings are played off for laughs with the whole thing being presented as such an absurd inconvenience that doing anything about it isn’t a bother and it’s far more fruitful to remain where they are to just deal with it even if it brings about professional ruin or obscene distress to themselves. That it does such a fine job of convincing that it’s haunted with genuinely intriguing and chilling ideas that it could’ve been fine as a straightforward genre feature with just a few touches of comedy to help things along with the whole idea of this one trimmed down just a touch as it’s a bit too long for its own good with this type of setup. These all manage to hold this one back.

Overview: ***/5

A generally solid comedy more than an outright genre effort, there’s a lot to enjoy here even if some of the issues present are more in line with the genre qualities that are put into here leaving it a bit all over the place. Give it a shot if you’re fine with the approach taken here or are curious about it will have the most to like here while most others out there should heed caution.