Halloween Haunt

It's Halloween, and like every year, quite a few young people are on the lookout for the perfect spooky thrill in 2019. That includes the clique led by college student Harper (Katie Stevens). They want to be taught the fear in a remote haunted house, which promises visitors horror and terror. To do so, they even let themselves be persuaded to hand in their cell phones at the entrance. A decision they soon bitterly regret. Because after a rather ponderous beginning, the scary attractions quickly turn into bloody horror traps from which there seems to be no escape. The friends realize they've fallen into the trap of a horde of killers, and they have no choice but to fight their way through each room in hopes of finding an exit somewhere.

Halloween Haunt is the latest directorial effort from genre specialists Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who surprised as screenwriters last year with their script for the surprise hit A Quiet Place. However, their new Halloween shocker isn't really surprising. The characters are walking clichés that you actually have little sympathy for as a viewer. The behavior of the characters is also so stupid at times that you can only grab your head as a viewer. Surely, somehow this is part of the genre, but here it stands out very negatively.

The haunted house with its bloody surprises certainly provides some moments of suspense, in which lovers of the somewhat more violent gore can definitely enjoy. And the atmosphere that the directing duo builds up in this setting can definitely make up for some of the many dramaturgical weaknesses. But it doesn't make the film really good. The whole thing remains even in the best moments very interchangeable B-movie goods, which entertains quite, but is forgotten again faster than you can say Halloween.

Horror fans who are satisfied with a coherent atmosphere and some decent splatter interludes, will be able to enjoy this visit to the terror house quite their pleasure. For all others it should be enough to have a look at the film when it is available for home cinema. Only with cutbacks still worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp