Director: Kathleen Behun
Year: 2014
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Haunted House
Plot:
Understanding a special challenge, documentary filmmakers head to a supposedly haunted house in a small neighborhood said to be the home of so much supernatural disturbance visitors only stay for a specified date, but when that challenge date arrives, they learn the stories are real.
Review:
This was a generic if overall watchable genre effort. What this one does well enough is mostly tied to the atmospheric setup that provides this with the kind of appropriately fun genre formulas, even if it’s all pretty familiar. The background history on the particular house, involving the original site being the home of an Indian burial ground that is said to be the cause for the disturbances ever since that dictate no one being able to stay in the house for that given period of time, bringing the main team together to figure out the potential cause of everything so that they can get the footage and notoriety for their show. None of this is original or unique in any form, but it’s workable enough in this particular style that the particular investigations are utilized with rather enjoyable setpieces throughout the house, from checking out various noises in the dark, observing objects move through their camera equipment, and investigating the strange read-outs that show something strange is going on.
Outside of that, the whole point of this one is somewhat undone when the rest of the shenanigans going on here are patently generic and rather mundane. The series of interactions and setpieces that are featured throughout the film once the team arrives at the house, from the use of spectral monitoring devices, temperature readouts, and finding scores of altered objects around the house, that are supposed to show the extent of the demonic entity within here, yet instead just run through a series of overblown cliches that are placed in pretty much the same expected order that most other genre entries utilize. It plays through these in a manner that indicates more of a checklist approach than anything else, and it just drains the life from this one rather quickly. There’s also the underwhelming finale that manages to highlight some rather striking ideas, but just doesn’t get pulled off with the kind of disappointing experience that leaves this with a sour note to end this one on.
Overview: **/5
A watchable if generally formulaic genre effort, this one doesn’t do much of anything new for this genre, which means that it’s still enjoyable for what it is as long as that factor is taken into account. Those with an appreciation for this kind of indie fare or who are undiscerning found-footage fans will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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