6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Beneath the fake blood and cheap masks of countless haunted house attractions across the country, there are whispers of truly terrifying alternatives. Looking to find an authentic, blood-curdling good fright for Halloween, five friends set off on a road trip in an RV to track down these underground Haunts.
Starring: Zack Andrews, Bobby Roe, Mikey Roe, Brandy Schaefer, Jeff Larson (III)Horror | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
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.
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.
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).
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.
2011
2013
2015
2012
2015
2017
2019
2009
1986
Collector's Edition
1981
The Hanging Woman / La orgía de los muertos
1973
1996
2010
2005
2013
2016
La orgía nocturna de los vampiros
1974
2017
2019
2017