Hauntedween (1991)

Local haunted house Burber’s House of Horrors closes after son  Eddie murders a young girl at the end of the night.  His mother rushes Eddie out of the state to avoid any consequences.

Twenty years later, the local fraternity is trying to figure out how to pay their chapter more than $3000 in dues. They were only able to pay $17 last month so the frat is planning to pull their charter if not paid in full.

Lead frat boy Kurt decides they can raise money by having a party where people pay to get in. The night is a success. They even have a live band called The Side, which is apparently a real band since they are credited.

As the party is winding down, someone knocks on the door and tells the comic relief frat guy that the frat could make a lot of money if they had a haunted house in the abandoned Burber place. Then he hands him a key and wanders off. Nothing suspicious about that.

The frat is suspects it’s a joke but when the key works, they have no more concerns. They go all out to set up a haunted house that will be the scariest thing people have ever seen.  But someone else is lurking in the house and has other plans for those who are putting on the haunt.

This is supposed to be a horror/comedy but the comedic characters are annoying. There is a sub plot about how Kurt doesn’t pay enough attention to Mel, the girl he’s dating, so she breaks up with him and starts seeing another guy in the frat.  There is a really horrible, yet really catchy theme song. I hate it but I can’t get it out of my head. It’s been stuck in there for days, “In a haunted house on a Hauntedween.”

This is low budget regional horror.  In one scene Kurt drives a sports car out of the frat driveway. The pavement has a big dip and you hear the car scrape horribly as it exits. I couldn’t tell if it was the bumper of the bottom of the car, but the owner must have been unhappy with that.

Amusing dialogue

I think the little girl cut her own head off. And now she’s trying to pin it on the little boy. 

The shorts

She has a complete lack of peripheral vision

The Side play for the crowd

He brought a BABY to a haunted house??!!

Lost Creek (2016)

After his parents’ divorce, Peter and his mom move to a new town.  Peter hangs out in the woods after school where he meets Maggie.  She makes him promise not to cross the creek because it’s too dangerous.

I’m not sure if it’s the continuity or a really long walk, but it’s light when Peter leaves the woods and dark when he gets home. Mom tells Peter he’s not leaving the table until he eats his broccoli, which causes me flashbacks to nursery school and the origin story of my lifelong hatred of peas.

As the days pass, Peter begins having nightmares, his jack-o’-lanterns disappear, his neighbors disappear and his friend Bill thinks it’s odd that Maggie doesn’t attend their school. When Peter tries to talk to his mom about the neighbors, she’s overwhelmed by stuff going on in her own life and doesn’t have time to talk to him.  

With Halloween approaching, things start ramping up with more disappearances, possessed dolls and more nightmares.  Peter, Bill and Maggie are on their own to fight against what is happening in town.

This seems to be aimed at younger teens. There are some things that might be frightening to them but I don’t remember any blood.  The characters have deep conversations about growing up.  The acting isn’t great, but it’s not the worst either.

Haunt Season (2024)

After a haunt actors disappears, Matilda is hired to take her place.  Most of the actors aren’t concerned about the disappearance since sometimes people decide to move on without notice. 

Unfortunately for the crew, someone is killing the actors. I’m not sure how transient haunt actors are, but if multiple people vanish without mentioning it to anyone, maybe there’s something bad going on.

The movie was filmed at a real haunt so the lighting and make up are decent.  

Spookt (2023)

Skeptic Rachel heads to Greenville to debunk the legend of Gibson House.  It was the home of Dr. Byler who performed  unethical medical experiments. A young girl disappeared in the house and there are rumors it’s haunted.

On her way there, Rachel hears a noise in the woods and finds a doll. She believes it’s an Amish doll and could be historic. Rachel is insane. It looks brand new. It’s not dirty, stained, worn or weathered. So there’s a real possibility she just stole some poor kids doll. She drops it at a museum with a note.

When Rachel gets to the house, she’s let in by the owner and meets paranormal investigator Claire who is working with the mother of the missing girl. Claire states there is something very wrong with the house. Her friend Ben broke in awhile ago but didn’t find anything. Claire claims the house changed him and three weeks later he took his own life. 

Rachel is bitter about sharing the house with Claire. She’s antagonistic and says maybe the junkie mother of the girl is responsible for her disappearance. Yikes!  Even though the house is big enough  for each to investigate on their own, Rachel won’t leave Claire by herself and ruins her attempts at EVPs. 

When Rachel decides to stop investigating and heads to a motel, she finds the Amish doll in her room. When she asks the manger about it, the owner says it’s not an Amish doll. So much for Rachel’s stellar research. 

If there’s one thing you can guarantee about skeptics in a supposedly haunted house is they’ll be believers by the end.

Eric Robert’s is in this movie. I’m at the point where any time I see his name on a movie, my first thought is oh no. It’s just a way to trick you into watching. He’s in this for maybe five minutes.  

The note to the museum

Why this doll must be of historical significance

Happy Halloween (2024)

Hadley is back in town after an incident last year where her boyfriend went psycho, stabbed a kid he was bullying, and tried to kill her. She’s happy to be back with her friends, but pretty soon people start disappearing and being murdered. Hadley is convinced it’s her ex boyfriend, but the police just roll their eyes.

In a “close the beaches” moment, the sheriff tells the mayor they need to cancel the town’s 300 year birthday celebration and school dance.  But the mayor doesn’t want to damage the town’s reputation or lose the money put into the celebration. Dead and missing kids? Not a problem. Cancel our 300 year celebration for the safety of the town? Heretic!

Hadley’s date to the dance is football star Kagan. People suspect him of the murders even though there’s no good reason for it. In a move to advance the plot, Kagan gets angry at Hadley and leaves her alone on the street, even though there’s a killer in town and he went outside to make sure she was safe.

Ridiculous dialogue

My Halloween decorations are going to put this place on the map.

Mayor:  Sheriff? Mayor West. I just got home and I hear you’re trying to cancel the dance and birthday celebration.

Sheriff: Mayor, we have multiple students dead and a student is missing.

The Haunted Forest (2025)

High school senior Zack is staying at his cousin Mark’s farm due to family issues.  Every Halloween Mark and his wife turn the farm into a haunt.  This is Zack’s first year working there.

He meets make up artist Sara, who says she’s taking a few years off before she goes to college. I’m not sure how old that makes her but she’s hitting on a high school student so it’s a bit weird.

During staff meeting where Mark explains the expectations for the haunt this year, Sara says a Native American massacre took place on the land and the spirits still weep at night. Mark says they can honor the dead while still entertaining people, having a good time, eating burgers, and scaring customers. Sara is not amused.

When one of the crew is found hanging from the zip line, the police call it a tragic accident. But some of the staff are suspicious of a neighboring haunt due to an argument the night before and the bad blood between the farms.  Mark is afraid the death will tank his income for the month, but the next night they get the biggest crowd they’ve ever had.

Money is flowing in but on Halloween some of the staff are injured when previously safe props turn out to be dangerous. They continue the haunt not realizing someone is targeting the staff and there are murders being committed. The question becomes who is killing people at the haunt? And why does Mark let a bunch of influencers in for a private experience after the haunt closes on Halloween night? Isn’t it better to have them promote the haunt before it closes?

The Jester (2023)

When her father calls to reestablish a relationship after abandoning her and her mother, Emma tells him she’s not interested. A few days later, she finds out he died shortly after her call.  She begrudgingly decides to go to the funeral, but wants nothing to do with her half sister Jocelyn, who hopes to connect with her. 

After the funeral, Emma walks way from the grave and looks back to see The Jester dancing next to her father’s grave. It’s weird but she’s not a big fan of her dad’s so she leaves.

Jocelyn wants to bond with Emma, but Emma is too jealous to be care about her.  Jocelyn had the relationship Emma wanted with their father. He loved her, supported her and did things with her.

When Emma sees the Jester later that night near a liquor store, she is unnerved.  The Jester has a mask, orange suit and is silent. Thus begins her run ins with this odd entity and a night of killings in this small town.

The Jester is kind of annoying. Who is he? Where did he come from? What does he want? Why does he kill people? No idea.

Hansel and Gretel’s Halloween (2026)

Hansel and Gretel live in a world where you can’t go trick or treating until you’re 16. Since they’re 15 and don’t see what difference one year makes, they decide to sneak out. Their friend group each tells their parents they are staying at someone else’s house for the night.

After getting tons of candy and being ready to go home, they turn around to find an overly decorated house with it’s light on.  Gretel thinks it’s weird because she doesn’t recall ever seeing that house before. She thinks they should leave, but everyone else wants to hit this last house before going home.

The woman who answers the door flatters Hansel and asks the group to wait while she gets more treats.  After a few minutes of standing around, they go inside to see what is taking her so long.  This proves to be a horrible idea since she’s a witch who turns kids into chocolate and then eats them.

The modernized telling of this story has me wondering how the witch survives. Does she only need to eat once per year? Does she melt so many children that she has chocolate for the entire year? And why does no one but Gretel think it’s odd that a house is suddenly located in a place where no house existed before?

Gehenna (2016)

Developers looking for land to make luxury apartments run into natives protesting the sale of their sacred land, which just happens to be the land they are interested in. It’s a burial ground, which doesn’t concern the developers. 

They are curious when some natives come out from what appears to be a bunker, which is not documented on the property map. If there are tunnels below ground it could cause structural issues when they build on top of it.

One of the protestors drops the totem he’s using to worship and  warns them of their folly. As they enter the bunker, one of the team picks it up. There are no lights so they use the lights on their phones and video camera. While exploring, they come across some dead bodies.  They really should leave at this point.

When they hear a noise, it turns out to be an old blind guy who knows Alan’s name and screams at them to get out. Well ,except for Alan who must die. At this point, there is an earthquake and they wake up to find the lights on and everything clean. Oh are you thinking what I’m thinking? Yeah I’m sure you are because it’s fairly obvious what is going on.

So until they explain it ad nauseam, be prepared for lots of wandering around a bunker with characters you don’t particularly like.

Stalker Club (2017)

When a group of friends receives an anonymous text which asks them to click the link to join the stalker club, they are intrigued. The rules are as follows: you can’t tell anyone about stalker club; one of you is the stalker;  you can guess who the stalker is; and if you guess wrong you’re out.

After one of them opens a bag full of bees, the group agrees to end the game, even though no one will admit to being the stalker.  How do you fill a bag with bees anyway? And where did you get the bees? Also why would you do that to your friends?

But the game isn’t over yet and people start dying.  When Ashley gets locked in the library, a man in a mask tries to kill her. She sets off the fire alarm to get help ,but the police don’t believe her story.  They say ask her if she really saw him. You’d think they’d take it seriously when two of her friends have recently died.

It turns out years ago the stalker club is not a new thing and something happened years ago.  Why does this club still exist?