Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

The Houses October Built Blu-ray Movie Review

Let's Scare the Tourists to Death

Reviewed by Michael Reuben January 11, 2015

First they made a documentary, then they made a feature film. With the "found footage" style, the gap is easy to bridge. Yes, The Houses October Built ("THOB"), released by Image Entertainment and available exclusively at Best Buy, is the latest entry in the horror genre where everything has been recorded by the characters on video cameras (sometimes including their own demise). I am disclosing this upfront so that anyone who audibly groans at the prospect of watching yet another "found footage" film, no matter how well-done, can move along. If they do, though, they'll miss hearing about THOB's unusual premise, which doesn't rely on anything supernatural. Everything that happens can be attributed to human intervention, and THOB opens with a quotation attributed to sci-fi writer Walter Jon Williams: "I'm not afraid of werewolves or vampires or haunted houses. I'm afraid of what real human beings do to other real human beings."

The title refers to haunted house attractions, of which thousands open every Halloween. The same creative team made both the documentary, which was completed in 2011, and the feature film, which was released in 2014. Former UCLA All-American pitcher Bobby Roe is credited as director on both, and he shares writing credits with Zack Andrews, Jack Larson and, on the feature film, Jason Zada. Roe, Andrews and Larson appear as themselves in both films, along with Roe's brother, Mikey, and aspiring actress Brandy Schaefer as the token female and by far the loudest screamer. The feature film has the additional cachet of being co-produced by Steven Schneider, whose credits include both the Insidious and Paranormal Activity series. The documentary is included, in standard definition, as a Blu-ray extra.

Haunted houses have been around for years, but as THOB's opening text informs us, the competition to deliver scares to an increasingly jaded public has led to a rise in accidents and tragedies, some of which are recounted in alleged news reports. Eager to experience the phenomenon of "extreme haunts", and also hoping to come up with a marketable documentary, a group of five friends rents an RV and sets off to find the scariest haunted houses in America.

An early title card informs us that THOB was shot by the five friends, who go by their real names of Bobby, Zack, Mikey, Jack and Brandy. But a second title card ominously notes that additional footage was shot by "employees of the Blue Skeleton, an underground haunt with no fixed location". Sure enough, as the group ventures into one scary venue after another, they pick up rumors of what, at first, sounds like an urban legend: a "haunt" called the Blue Skeleton that is said to be more extreme than any other but of which they can find no one who has personal experience. Like some obscure indie band, it can only be found by those in the know. As the group continues to interview proprietors of haunts and their employees, asking about their techniques, their limits, what they would and wouldn't do, they keep inquiring about the Blue Skeleton. The answers they receive are generally vague and unhelpful, and it's hard to tell what is or isn't part of that particular haunt's "act".

Gradually, however, the group's encounters at their various stops become strange, even by the standards of an "extreme haunt" tour. Figures from one haunt seem to reappear at another, though, with all that makeup, can one really be sure? A character from a haunt suddenly approaches the door of their RV and, when they let it inside, behaves in a shockingly creepy manner, but maybe that's just part of the experience (invading patrons' space is part of the new frontier in "extreme haunts"). But what really tips off the group that they've made some sort of contact is the sudden appearance of an internet site documenting their own activities in an invasive way. Clearly, these aspiring documentary filmmakers have caught the attention of somebody.

Since we know from the outset that the Blue Skeleton will enter the picture at some point, whatever suspense THOB is able to generate arises from not knowing which of the many bizarre encounters will lead to these underground extremists. As several of the interviews suggest, people who put their heart and soul into "extreme haunts" often have much anger and hostility bubbling just below the surface. Is the employee in costume who comes up to the group and starts yelling at one of them simply playing a character, initiating a contact or about to snap and become violent? Led by Zack, who plans the itinerary, the group of adventurers doesn't think to ask such questions. They are so caught up in their quest that they follow every lead until the bitter (and I do mean bitter) end.

THOB has some effective moments, especially in the extreme haunt visits and some of the encounters leading up to the ultimate meeting with the Blue Skeleton. The film suffers in its connecting scenes, because none of the four male characters makes any impression as an individual. This weakness was already evident in the original documentary, but if one is going to take the trouble to script a fictionalized variation, one should take the additional step of creating actual characters. Without clearly defined personalities, there isn't any obvious need to have four male leads, except that certain scenes work better with a cacophony of confused voices. Only Brandy makes any impression, primarily because she's the sole woman, which gives her the default horror-film role of the damsel in distress. But who she is (other than someone who screams easily) remains as much a mystery as the Blue Skeleton.

The Houses October Built Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The original documentary footage from 2011 was primarily shot by Jeff Larson, but the feature film had a professional cinematographer, Andrew Strahorn (The Hungover Games). Shot on a variety of digital cameras, The Houses October Built has been edited together with deliberate interruptions, breakups and down-rezzing of some scenes for effect (e.g., to simulate a TV broadcast with poor reception). The result on Image's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, is a typical "found footage" presentation that is almost certainly faithful to the source but will not be anyone's idea of a demonstration disc for showing off their system to visitors. Black levels, detail and color saturation vary with the lighting conditions, although, if one compares similar scenes from the documentary, it is apparent that the shots have been carefully planned to reveal what needs to be seen, while retaining the amateur appearance of "found footage". A few key sequences shot with night vision are entirely gray.

With all the hi-def extras, Image has had to depart from its usual practice and spring for a BD-50. As a result, THOB has received less aggressive compression than is typical from the studio, with an average bitrate of 31.99 Mbps. Considering the many video anomalies that are either inherent in the source or have been introduced in post-production, that's a good protection against additional distortion.

The Houses October Built Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

THOB's 5.1 soundtrack, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, doesn't break the illusion that we're watching an amateur video recording, but it uses the full dynamic range of a professional mixing console to put the viewer into the position of the road trip explorers as they journey through the various haunts, experiencing shrieks, moans, zombie gurgles, sudden loud crashes and bangs, strange music and all the other sounds devised by the proprietors to shock and delight their patrons. Bass extension may not be thunderous, but it's deep. Voices onscreen are appropriately centered, and those behind the camera emanate from left and right at various points in the listening space. The dialogue is generally clear, although the only parts that are informative are the interviews, most of which are taken from the original documentary. There's some original underscoring, which is credited to Alex Kimmell (who scored the documentary) and Mark Binder (the sound designer for Paranormal Activity 2).

The Houses October Built Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• "The Original Houses October Built": The Full-Length Documentary That Inspired the Film (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 1:34:36): Substantial portions of the documentary appear in the feature film as inserts commenting on the action and supplying background information. A few segments are presented as if they are news reports. The documentary follows the same basic narrative as the feature film, minus the ominous buildup. It does refer to the Blue Skeleton, but the reference appears to be an invention of the filmmakers designed to provide an ending.



• "Behind the Screams": An Inside Look at the Haunts (1080p; 1.78:1; 8:47): Primarily using excerpts from the two films, this featurette focuses on HauntedHouse.com, Rise Haunted House, The Haunt House and Zombie Manor.



• "Portrait of a Scare Artist": Photo Gallery (1080i; 1.78:1; 2:07): This collection of stills showcases the impressive quality and variety of the makeup, costume and lighting effects to be found at "extreme haunts".



• Cast Carvings by "The Pumpkin Geek" (1080i; 1.78:1; 1:11): If these are real pumpkins, the carving is impressive, but they look more like computer renderings.



• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 1.78:1; 24:05): The scenes are not separately listed or selectable. They contain a little of everything, including an alternate introduction of the Blue Skeleton.



• Additional Trailers: At startup the disc plays trailers for The Paranormal Diaries: Clophill and Wolfcop, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

The Houses October Built Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

THOB is a good idea undercut by a flawed execution. If nothing else, it suggests that there's a genuinely fascinating documentary to be made about the phenomenon of "extreme haunts" by simply interviewing the people who create them. They seem more than happy to talk about their work, but focusing on the filmmakers and their foolish obsession ends up being more of a distraction than a scare. Parts of THOB are interesting, especially the documentary interviews, but overall I can't recommend it.