Haunt
Directed by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
- horror
- thriller
The story
On Halloween, a group of friends encounter an extreme haunted house that promises to feed on their darkest fears. The night turns deadly as they come to the horrifying realisation that some nightmares are real.
What it’s like
Cold October nights in tight, dimly lit corridors: Haunt leans on saturated practical-looking set pieces, sickly greens and blood reds under cheap fluorescent strips, and a camera that stays close and jittery during the chase sequences before settling into wider, held shots in the maze's stark rooms. The sound design is built on creaking wood, muffled screams behind plywood walls, and a pulsing synth-leaning score that drops out abruptly to near silence, which makes every trapdoor and mask reveal land harder. The vibe is clammy, claustrophobic dread with a mean streak of Halloween-party fun, the kind of thing to watch with the lights off on a late October night or as a loud, sceptical group watch. Pacing is brisk and escalating, with the middle of the film given over to the group splintering and the last act tightening into a grim, violent scramble. Violence is frequent and graphic: stabbings, gore and a few brutal kills, with fear and cruelty outweighing any tenderness. Friendship is tested by panic, and the arc of its young people is about surviving their own bad decisions. Built for slasher fans and haunted-attraction devotees who want an unsettling, blood-spattered ride, not for anyone seeking something gentle.
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