Haunt

Most "Haunted House" attraction movies are horrible. "Haunt" is the rare exception. The directors also wrote "The Quiet Place" and Eli Roth was involved. Regardless, this is a slick Halloween thriller.

**Haunt** starts out trying to be creepy with shots of haunted house staff members wearing clown masks. It does the usual clown thing, which is to stand there, silent and ominously. Not scary. Then at about the 57-minute mark, the movie goes bonkers with some brutal clawhammer and sledgehammer violence, shotguns, nails through feet...it definitely changes its tone. The six friends that enter the haunted house do the usual stupid things that are needed to make a slasher film work, but they're not entirely unlikable characters. Harper is the one that the viewer is supposed to empathize with, and for the most part, she's easy to pull for. Her abusive boyfriend exits and later reenters the movie, only to get clobbered by baddies, presumably because the viewer is just supposed to hate him. It just adds another person to the body count. This was a timely watch because it's Halloween season and this is setup as a Halloween flick. It's not horrible, it's just not scary and is a run-of-the-mill Horror movie.

Already a feeling of unease, pranksters have a tendency to throw off the vibe while trying to set one. Something feels off in the haunted house, started before even entering the place. Things are picking up, and the terror is setting in for our characters, and it feels like it's all gone wrong and now to see was out really ever even an option for them. The brutality is inspired and satisfyingly maniacal, while sheer viciousness is just gorily beautiful. This new sect of torture porn/horror is growing on me. This film is actually quite amusing and fun.