Haunt - Film Review

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Harper (Katie Stevens) is a university student on the verge of breaking up with her alcoholic boyfriend, Sam (Samuel Hunt). On Halloween night she isn't really in the mood to party, but her friends persuade her to come with them to an "extreme haunted house" attraction. Once they're inside the building things start to go horribly wrong.



Haunt (2019) is an American slasher movie directed by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, the creators of A Quiet Place. As slasher movies go it's not terrible, but it's unlikely to be hailed as a classic of the genre. I never felt like turning it off in disgust, although I did look away in one scene involving a hammer.

While many slasher movies open with a death scene, Haunt is quite a way into the movie (I could say exactly how long, but that would spoil the surprise) before anybody dies. In theory, this gives the viewer some time to get to know the characters first so that we care about what happens to them. In practice, Haunt gives only a little basic information about each of the characters, though it's more than you often get in slasher movies. I am also giving them some points for the realistic depiction of lock picking (showing that it isn't really easy, nor useful in every situation), which is annoyingly rare in movies.




Haunt is not a horror/comedy, but it does have a couple of funny lines and some black humour in certain scenes. I quite liked the haunted house itself, which was more of an escape room than an ordinary haunted house and would have actually been a lot of fun if it wasn't quite so murdery. The plot was a little far-fetched and a few things were left unexplained by the end.

Content Warning: Obviously since it's a slasher movie there is horror, including murders, but more specifically it includes a scary clown, lots of spiders and depictions of family/partner violence.

There is quite a bit of gore, although some of it has a sort of comedic Home Alone vibe (you will know the scene I mean when you see it).




Overall, Haunt is a watchable slasher flick and since it's set on Halloween night it might be a good addition to a Halloween horror movie marathon. It is currently streaming on Netflix in Australia.



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More articles by Jennifer Muirhead:
The Invitation - Film Review
Night Swim - Film Review
Jack and Diane - Film Review
Housebound - Film Review
Sissy - Film Review
Time Cut - Film Review
5 Horror Movies From Around the World