The Midnight Horror: 'The Houses October Built 2' (2017)

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I thought I had saved the best for last in my Midnight Horror marathon: The Houses October Built 2. It's a DVD I've clung to for far too long without actually watching. I should note that I've never seen the first film, although I've certainly heard a fair share of both praise and scorn surrounding it. After admiring the hauntingly cool cover art, I figured the sequel would make for a fitting Halloween treat. Little did I know, I was dead wrong.

Co-written and directed by Bobby Roe, the premise is as follows: recovering from the traumas of being kidnapped the previous Halloween by the ominous Blue Skeleton—a group that takes "extreme haunt" to absurd new depths—five friends decide to confront their fears head-on. They hit the road once again to explore haunted house attractions, but as they set off, the signs of the Blue Skeleton's return loom ominously overhead, and a fresh terror begins to unfold...

And yet, here we are: this movie is a catastrophic flop! Though I might lack the context of the first installment, I am well aware of basic plot. For some unfathomable reason, the filmmakers chose to toss the original lore out the window and serve us a bland, uninspired sequel that swaps fright for hokey “extreme haunts” where the only thing scary is how fake the scares feel. No hauntings, no killings—just a sad riff on what could have been a haunting ride, with the filmmakers trying to cash in on the modest success of the first film.

I loathed everything about The Houses October Built 2: from the laughably poor directing and pointless script to the cringe-inducing acting and atrocious editing. The complaints are endless, and now I understand why a third film never saw the light of day. This is a textbook case of why I often observe disdain for modern low-budget horror flicks. It seems these young filmmakers lack both vision and passion, resorting to uninspired clichés rather than crafting something genuinely terrifying. The sheer mediocrity is far scarier than anything this flick could muster, which is a nightmare in its own right! ╌½✰✰✰✰

〜B.J. Burgess