Frankly, Chuck’s realtor kind of stinks. First, he discovers the roof of their new home leaks like a sieve. Then he starts to learn of the town’s notorious history, starting with the previous owner’s suicide. Yet, she still wants him to film a video testimonial for her.
Of course, it was cheap and he thought they needed the space, since his younger sister Isabelle agreed to move in with him and his wife Maria, after their mother’s accidental death. Technically, it is four of them, if you include Martha, the creepy mannequin Maria insists on lugging around. She believes Martha has been a good luck charm for her YouTubing fashion-designing career. However, as soon as they unpack, Martha mysteriously begins to move around on her own. Must be a prank, right?
Soon, Chick learns the whole town lives in fear of Foster’s ghost. Searching for her address, 825 Forest Road, is their obsession, but everyone does it on the sly, because those who get too close wind-up dead. Foster wastes no time diving deep into the weeds of Foster-philia, even joining his next-door neighbor Larry’s support group for 825-seekers. Yet, he always acts skeptical whenever he comes home to the aftermath of a fresh round of supernatural mayhem.
Regardless, 825 is a surprisingly scary haunted house film. Much like Cognetti’s Hell House LLC found footage franchise (which also prominently features mannequins), it shows how skillful execution can elevate a relatively straightforward premise. However, in this case, the obsession with old maps and municipal records adds an element of old fashioned, tactile musty-smelling intrigue.
