The Houses October Built is a 2014 American horror film directed by Bobby Roe and starring Brandy Schaefer, Zack Andrews, Bobby Roe, Mikey Roe, and Jeff Larson. It was produced by Steven Schneider (Paranormal Activity, Insidious).
The Houses That October Built 2 was released in September 2017.
Plot:
Beneath the fake blood and cheap masks of countless haunted house attractions across the country, there are whispers of truly terrifying alternatives.
Looking to find an authentic, blood-curdling good fright for Halloween, five friends set off on a road trip in an RV to track down these underground haunts. Just when their search seems to reach a dead-end, strange and disturbing things start happening, and it becomes clear that the haunt has come to them…
Reviews:
“Like David Fincher’s The Game, you keep wondering if what they ultimately end up going through is all one big horrific joke, or if they’ve actually stumbled upon a crew of maniacs for whom this has been an extended lure into their devious trap […] doesn’t reinvent the found footage genre, but it does slap a semi-fresh coat of paint on it.” Arrow in the Head
” …Bobby Roe’s feature never transcends a predictable narrative trajectory to deliver much in the way of creepy atmosphere, let alone actual scares … it will doubtless make a bigger impact in home formats, where horror fans will doubtless complain that half the time they can’t make out whatever mayhem is supposed to be going on in the cast-handheld lensing.” Variety
“There are also several handheld-camera excursions into the houses, on hayrides, etc., which are kinda fun in a travelogue sort of way, but don’t add much to the tension since the frights we’re experiencing at a remove are staged, and not an actual threat to the principals.” Fangoria
“The Houses October Built proves one of the more successful attempts at the found-footage horror flick since Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. It has its holes in logic, but at least it grasps the simple premise that footage can be found only if it has in fact been filmed.” Los Angeles Times
” …a natural enough fit for the “shaky-cam horror” subgenre, but interesting actions will always trump an interesting idea, and the sad fact is that it seems our cadre of (I’m guessing here, but I’m pretty sure I’m right) Wilco and Arcade Fire fans just haven’t got that simple truism figured out, so all they manage to do is end up boring us to tears with their bullshit.” Trash Film Guru
“The plot material stringing these sequences together, mostly confined to the RV and roadside bars, is far more reality TV-inspired than anything resembling full-blown narrative fiction. The actors, playing themselves, can only be said to be performing in the sense that they’re enacting a semi-imaginary scenario. Production quality barely approaches micro-budget standards.” The Hollywood Reporter
Trailer:
