Gnarly Gem from ‘Heretic’ Directors Will Make Fear The ‘Haunt’

Story By #RiseCelestialStudios

Gnarly Gem from ‘Heretic’ Directors Will Make Fear The ‘Haunt’

What would October be without haunted houses? Every year, my wife and I visit Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights here in Los Angeles. We love a good scare, and they always deliver. That feeling of walking through dark rooms full of latex monsters and masked mayhem, patrons screaming all around you…you can’t beat that. Of course, it’s all in good fun. What makes these places truly scary is when you start to ask yourself…what if it’s real?

Horror has toyed with the concept of haunted houses gone wrong for decades now. From Hauntedween to The Houses October Built, these films employ clever killers who hide their misdeeds out in the open. Unsuspecting audiences are unaware that they are witnessing actual murders. A good handful of movies have executed this idea well, but Haunt is perhaps the best of them, and it’s currently streaming on Shudder.

What’s Haunt About?

Quiet Harper (Katie Stevens) has just broken it off with her abusive boyfriend. Being that it’s Halloween night, she’s invited by some friends to an “extreme” haunted house. At first, the group experiences delight at how scary the performances are. It all feels so real. But as they venture deeper, Harper and gang discover that this is no ordinary haunt. The blood isn’t fake. Nor are the bodies. And if they want to escape, they’ll have to fight through a horde of masked “actors” who aren’t acting at all.

A True House of Horrors

With Haunt, filmmakers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (the scribes behind A Quiet Place and creators of Heretic) deliver a quite different type of horror from John Krasinski’s creature feature. Gone are CG monsters and heartfelt family moments. Here, the monsters are entirely human. Faces hidden beneath masks ranging from ghosts to witches and the devil, the villains of Haunt represent the monstrous ugliness that some hide within. Harper has a history of abusive men in her life, including her father. All have hidden their violence beneath smiles. Beck and Woods effectively use the many horrors of the maze to reflect the real-life terrors of the abusive household that she grew up in.

In our review for Dread, we described Haunt as a film that “unmasks the true horror of Halloween”.

In line with the theme, the filmmakers go full force with the blunt brutality of Haunt. It unmasks the terror of Halloween by peering into the darkest hearts and fears of humanity. Claustrophobic tunnels turn deadly. Wrists are cut. Skulls are bashed. There’s a ruthless nature to the film that aims to live up to the label of “extreme haunt”, and, for the most part, it succeeds. By the end of this terrifying exploration of human viciousness, you’ll think twice before entering that next haunted house.

Don’t believe me? Then stream Haunt on Shudder now to see if you’re brave enough to make it to the end. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Tags: haunt haunted house

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