From the brilliant writers behind 2018’s hit A Quiet Place comes Haunt, produced by horror icon Eli Roth. The film follows a group of friends to an extreme haunt, where they find themselves in a fight for their lives when the employees begin to kill the group off one by one.
Let’s be honest, we’ve seen haunted attractions gone bad many times in the past. While Haunt turns up the heat, it still relies on an overused concept. At least directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods attempted to put some spin on it, sadly they didn’t put enough heart into it.
Haunt‘s death scenes are brutal, but what else would you expect when Eli Roth is attached? They’re bloody, gory, and messy.
The killers’ masks stand out and are a fresh take on the Halloween classic characters of the witch, ghost, devil, and clown. The masks did look good though. Don’t be surprised if a line of merchandise is released at some point. However, he most interesting thing about the villains is what’s underneath their masks, tattooed, pierced, and modified faces reminiscent of the masks they wear. Unfortunately, we don’t get to know much about them. Their faces are never really addressed, which I find disappointing. If they are willing to mutilate themselves, there has to be a story there. Unfortunately, they were left pretty one dimensional.
The kids in the film are your basic bunch, the pretty girl, the athlete, the goofball, the wild child, and of course, the emotionally wounded girl who turns out to be our final girl, no surprise there. It’s the same stereotypes we’ve seen again and again in horror movies.
When I first heard that Eli Roth and the team behind A Quiet Place were getting together for a horror movie I got really excited. I had high hopes for Haunt, but to be honest, it just didn’t live up to the hype. In the end, Haunt feels like a bit of an insult to horror fans. Horror fans know their stuff. They know they deserve something smarter, more creative, and more original. That’s why I’m giving it 3 out of 5.
