When one thinks of haunted houses combined with a horror movie, they might think of the Conjuring house or maybe the iconic house in The Exorcist. However, for this article, actual haunted houses; attractions that one can actually go to and get scared by cheap costumes and jump scares, are going to be featured. It’s a classic trope in the horror genre; a group of teenagers/young adults heading out to find the scariest and sketchiest haunted house they could possibly find, leading them to torture, death, and usually ends with one lone survivor. As fall quickly approaches, and summer comes to an end, Halloween decorations and memorabilia starts to line shelves, and maybe even posters for haunted houses.
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More recently, in the 2000s, there have been more horror movies, with the plot following a group of friends heading out on the spooky holiday toward their doom inside a haunted house, or even a festival where things get even worse. Notably, these types of movies can be repetitive and predictable, but that’s what makes them so good. Viewers suspect how the movie is going to play out, but suddenly the film can take a bloody turn that no one suspects, and the twist changes things entirely. The film Blood Fest (2018) is a perfect example of the sub-genre poking fun at itself. The movie is filled with cheap scares and predicable twists, but it’s fresh enough that viewers enjoyed what it made itself to be. Haunted house-based horror films are timeless, and here’s why.
It’s Predictable but Unpredictable
In 2018, Hell Fest (very similar to Blood Fest) was released and took a different spin on how the film ended, and the direction it could possibly go in from there. If you haven’t seen the movie, here is a spoiler warning. The CinemaHolic states that this movie has a great underlying feminist message, confirming that women who are in distress, especially in horror movies, aren’t in need of a man coming to their rescue. When a trio of girlfriends head to Hell Fest in search of a fun night and terrifying scares, things take a bad turn when they start to get stalked by someone revealed as “The Other” by the end of the movie. Predictable things happen throughout the film, of course, but it’s the ending that gets viewers to feel unsettled, even after the movie is over.
It’s revealed that the “The Other” is a family man and husband, who goes to his nice home at the end of the film, after killing a handful of people and returning to his life like nothing happened. The message of killers and creeps living amongst us in everyday life is the point filmmakers try at and succeed at getting across, wanting the audience to feel uncomfortable in theaters as they look around at the strangers sitting next to them. Hell Fest plays into tropes, and going into it, viewers can most likely suspect what’s going to happen, who’s going to die, who’s going to be last standing, and who’s going to have the most traumatic story to tell, but the ending is where it trips people up.
Unlimited Jump Scares and Tropes
Broken Road Productions
According to Where’s the Jump, a website dedicated to letting viewers know where and how many jump scares are in a horror movie, Haunt (2019) has a total of 16 jump scares. This slasher film follows a group of friends who find an off-the-road sketchy haunted house, where they have to sign a waiver and hand over their phones before entering the rickety-looking establishment. Once inside, roles are immediately placed on the characters; Harper (Katie Stevens), who’s suspicious from the start, but went because her friends convinced her, Nathan (Will Brittain), who’s underestimated at first but proves to be helpful in the end, Evan (Andrew Lewis Caldwell), who’s mostly there for comedic relief, and so on.
Besides the stereotypical roles placed on these characters, and the many well-timed jump scares placed throughout the film, another common trope in these horror movies, is the classic split-up of the group. Usually in the haunted house, they reach a fork where there are two possible paths to take, and instead of choosing just one to go down with the entire group, they split up. Where audiences suck their teeth and shake their heads, yelling at their screens to just “go together!” because now that they’re split up, they’ve just lowered their muscle power by a lot.
Moment of Realization
One of the best parts of a film based in a haunted house, is the moment of realization for the characters when they figure out that they are in an actual house of torture, and not a fun little horror moment. Something might happen before the real discovery of where they are, something to make them slightly on edge and laugh nervously before moving on. Maybe one of the “actors” kills someone in front of them, and it looks a little too realistic, but they brush it off and keep moving. However, when the second killing happens, and perhaps it’s someone from the group, or the screams were too realistic, the facade of this haunted house crumbles, and they realize they are in actual danger.
Fear takes over the character’s face and the audience feels it; hearts pound as the fact of the matter comes to light, and they’re going to have to fight their way out of the haunted attraction. Things get real, very fast, and it’s always interesting to see who takes the lead; characters you don’t expect coming forward and laying out a plan that usually gets only one or two people out in the end. It’s even better, though, when only one person realizes what’s happening, and they go to tell the group, and no one believes them until a third traumatic event happens, and the original character has a moment of smugness that doesn’t last long at all.
