Directors: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Notable Cast: Katie Stevens, Will Brittain, Lauryn Alisa
McClain, Andrew Caldwell, Shazi Raja, Schuyler Helford, Phillip Johnson Richardson
If you were to judge it based on its overall
marketing, Haunt is the kind of film that should have dwindled away on VOD.
There is a strong movement for “haunted house” horror films. Not the ones about
ghosts, but the theme-park style haunted houses that people love to visit
around Halloween time. Some of these have been good, Hell House LLC for example, and
some have been less than good. Either way, there seem to be more and more
lately as the genre continues to grow. When Haunt was announced it didn’t make much of a splash overall in most of my circles. It
was getting a limited theatrical release which was the same day as VOD. Even though
horror fans were most likely to see it, it’s the kind of film that to get a release without much fanfare.
There is one angle that made it a fascinating addition to
that subgenre. Haunt was written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan
Woods and it’s produced by Eli Roth. The directors/writers proved they could
modernize old school horror to a very successful extent with their written material
for A Quiet Place and Eli Roth is relatively smart in the producer’s chair
in bringing up talent. Fortunately, the combination proves to be very effective
and Haunt ends up being one of the best films for the haunt movement and one of the best finds of the year.