For the last few years, the "found footage" style of film making has taken a foothold and become a sub genre within the various types of horror movies that appear each year. Movies like Paranormal Activity, The Last Exorcism, and The Devil Inside have achieved a consistent level of box office success so of course, it must be time for Marlon Wayans to take on the genre with one of his comedic spoofs.
The story revolves around Malcolm and his new video camera as he begins to document the daily progression of his relationship with his girlfriend Kisha. It doesn't take long for odd occurrences to begin taking place in their house like strange sounds in the night and keys laying on the floor. Before you know it, they have security cameras installed so they can monitor all of the strange activity.
Eventually the unexplained events culminate in a paranormal experience not unlike about six or seven others we've all seen in found footage movies over the last several years. What makes this movie different is its attempts at poking fun at the others with lots and lots of bargain basement jokes and bathroom humor. There are a few moments that provide genuine comedy, but for the most part, you will see a steady stream of race, gender, and homosexual jokes that are more lame and overused than any kind of funny.
It seems like Marlon Wayans and crew has found a formula that works and has no issues with using it again and again to achieve moderate success. You definitely want to set your expectations on the low end of the scale as these parodies tend to hit the same basic notes and A Haunted House doesn't do anything to change that.
Barely laughed and even when I did, it was rarely a chuckle. Oh well, just another failure for the Wayans. Good review Marc.
ReplyDeleteYeah, way too much lowbrow humor that we've seen a million times already. Thanks, Dan!
ReplyDelete