Director: Raymond Wallace
Year: 2026
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: Hennesy House Murders
Genre: Haunted House
Plot:
Presented to the public for the first time, a paranormal research team’s final episode depicting their arrival at a supposedly haunted house in the area takes a turn for the worse when something starts turning their harmless show into a genuinely threatening supernatural phenomenon.
Review:
Overall, this comes together as a rather strong genre effort with a lot to like. Among the better features within here is the way it provides a more raw and open-ended look at the production of a paranormal investigation show like this. Going through the motions of the various aspects needed to shoot this type of content, from recycling takes multiple times over, dumbing down monologues filled with overly-geeky technical jargon that will be quite hard to grasp for common viewers several times over, or discussing the order of shooting their buffer segments all give this a kind of engaging, rawer feel than expected. It goes along with the other information gathered here about the status of the recording and how it was released, as this was supposedly never edited properly to get it aired and is the recovered footage from the investigation that was left behind, and that all helps to make that type of unfiltered, alternate take type of material feel more real and natural.
From there, the group going through the motions of investigating the house for the show manages to offer up genuinely chilling moments. Forgoing the usual series of supernatural antics involving them yelling in an empty room before something loud crashes or conducting spiritual conversations that reveal dark truths about what’s going on, this one opts for a stellar technological component where they rely on their equipment to lead them through the house. This approach leads into stellar sequences involving them trying to follow creepy noises into a darkened basement despite no usable visual ability to process what’s happening, or the chaotic encounter in the bedroom where it turns physical and attacks the team in multiple confrontations. That all comes together in the finale, which just turns completely over-the-top and chaotic in the best way as the confrontations become gruesomely brutal and terrifyingly physical, creating a truly frenetic experience that provides plenty of likable factors to hold this one up.
There isn’t much to dislike here, but there are a few drawbacks to hold this down. The main issue here is that the first half spends far too much time rehashing traditional, formulaic storylines about the house and its history that aren’t all that original or unique. Retelling the story about the group exploring a house that’s built on the site of a brutal tragedy centuries earlier and has been the site of multiple incidents over the years that no one has been able to explain or solve, which is what drives them to arrive there. It’s a rather predictable and formulaic approach that doesn’t offer a backstory all that different from dozens of other efforts out there, and does tend to make a lot of those scenes pretty formulaic as well. The other issue here is that there’s no real need to go into the direction the epilogue does, offering hints of a sequel with a new crew when it had a perfect ending on their fate and why it took so long to release the footage, so it’s a bit off-putting as a result, bringing this down slightly.
Overview: ****/5
An immensely effective and likable found-footage feature, there’s a lot to enjoy with this one as it contains quite a lot of likable elements and not too many flaws, which manage to hold this one up overall. Those with an appreciation for this type of genre fare or who are undiscerning found-footage aficionados will have a lot to like here, while those turned off by these factors should heed caution.
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