Well, its the time of year for spooky shit. So, I have been jumping around from thing to thing, and this got recommended to me by party rockers in the know.
I went in blind, which is what I recommend. So, if you have half an interest, go watch it and come back. Its a fucking good time.
What a joy of a time.
The concept of doing a Twitch-style streamer stuck in a haunted house that actually is haunted could have so fucking easily fell on its face. There is a few reason why it really works here.
First, Joseph Winter (co-director with his wife and star of the movie) knows EXACTLY who this character is. From the dude bro expressions down to the super high pitched screams, his performance is what makes this movie sing. In fact, this movie has a few jump scares, which I don’t care for, but his extreme reaction to it makes it fucking work. You know that one mini-jump scare in Army of Darkness where Bruce Campbell gives a classic reaction to it, this movie has a bunch of that.
In fact, lets address this for a second. A friend of mine called this the Evil Dead sequel we didn’t get. And I completely agree. This movie lives in that space of terror and absurd reactions to it.
The movie also does not overstay its welcome. These days, people make this content that would make 2001 A Space Odyssey for length, but this thing is a tight 87 min. Perfect. Doesn’t over state its welcome.
I also want to shout out the little touches. I doubt they just found the house that way, so the set design of our little chamber play is perfect. You get a sense of space with all the cameras set up by the protagonist. By the end of the movie, you know our main characters options and where he can and will end up. Also, whoever wrote the fucking Twitch chat equivalent is amazing. Perfect shit.
Did I mention this movie takes big inspirations from Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness? There are some lines at the end of this movie that are just masterpiece fantastic. In fact, the last 1/3 of the film is so insane that it makes me desperately wish the last 1/3 was the last 1/2.
The major flaw is that there is some dead time where they are just setting up this house and back history. Like all that is fine and they don’t linger on it. But it does make for a less exciting experience in the first half.
Plus the movie is cheap. And in parts you do feel it. Especially some of the puppet driven monsters feel Spirit Halloween-y. Again, they aren’t there for long, so it doesn’t bog down the movie. But, it does make some of the sequences feel comical in the wrong way.
Overall, what we have here is a delight. Perfect for halloween, a horror movie I will be coming back to.
3.5/4 – It’s a fucking good time boys. Get a drink. Sit back and enjoy.