This
is one area where it is definitely more socially favorable to receive rather
than give. Most folks can accept the healthy catharsis of enjoying a good
scare, but if you dig scaring people, you are probably some kind of mean
bastard. It makes you wonder about the people who work at “extreme haunts.”
Most of them probably just want to entertain their patrons, but the shadowy
group known as Blue Skeleton is something else entirely. At the end of the
first film, Blue Skeleton had entombed Brandy in a coffin and were just about
to cover it with dirt when the cops arrived. Now known on the internet as “Coffin
Girl,” she will reluctantly join her cash-poor friends and fellow Blue Skeleton
survivors on another tour of the heartland’s most distinctive haunted houses in
Bobby Roe’s The Houses October Built 2 (trailer here), which opens
today in New York.
The
October franchise is an interesting
attempt to combine the found footage horror movie with reality travel
programming. As in the first installment, Brandy and her jerky pals will tour
some real-life haunts and in some cases, talk to the actual proprietors. Not
surprisingly, it is hard to get the mix right, but some of the attractions,
like the zombie run and a cerebral zombie apocalypse role playing scenario look
like a great deal of fun.
Unfortunately,
it is never all that scary to watch them tour the real world, fake haunts. However,
we periodically see ominous signs Blue Skeleton is out there, watching them. It
should therefore surprise nobody when it turns out they are the people behind “Hellbent,”
the extreme haunt all the professionals are talking about in hushed tones.
For
the most part, Roe and co-writer-co-star Zack Andrews follow the same playbook
they used for the first film, but that option will not be available to them if
they come back for another sequel, because of a game-changing climax. It is
also striking how little actual on-screen gore can be seen in these films. Yet,
the sequel has some admittedly creepy moments.
To
increase the meta-ness, all five Scooby Mystery team members play their
namesakes. They deserve credit, because they really nail that bickering,
bantering camaraderie, which is so tough to fake. We definitely believe they
have been through a lot together. Brandy Schaefer is particularly compelling as
“Coffin Girl.” She is absolutely not a victim, but she also has an
understandably limited tolerance for extreme shenanigans.
