Haunt directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods is a great slasher film and easily the best haunted house attraction gone wrong movie out there. The premise is simple and effective, a group of friends enter a haunted house ride which turns out to be real and they are systematically taken down one by one by its crazed workers.
Katie Stevens plays the lead, a girl named Harper who is trying to take her mind off of breaking up with an abusive boyfriend by attending the attraction with her friends one halloween night. One thing I really liked with this film is that no one feels like a one dimensional stereotypical caricature and all the supporting cast are pretty likeable. Harper is a pretty solid final girl and there's a bit of substance to her backstory, which never feels heavy handed and sits perfectly in the film.
There is an underlying theme of overcoming trauma by facing it head on, which makes perfect sense given the setting as this is the exact reason why people subject themselves to extreme haunts like Mckamey Manor in real life, it naturally fits into the story the writers are telling.
The film is perfectly paced, it knows when to build suspense and is atmospheric and creepy precisely when it needs to be and fast paced and intense at all the right moments. It uses its setting to its full advantage with an array of traps, escape rooms and dead ends that lead to nowhere.
The antagonists are great and are actually far more frightening looking when they're unmasked than when their faces are hidden, usually this is the absolute reverse and the reveal of their real appearance really adds to the movie.
I honestly can't fault this film at all,
it's a great straight forward halloween themed slasher
and I really enjoyed it.
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