DARK HOUSE (2009)

What to watch on Halloween? For the true horror movie buff, that's always a tough call. I've loved horror since I was a kid, but let's be honest, the genre is depressingly predictable and, when there is a good film comes along, it immediately gets sequeled to death! Many years I'll get two or three movies to watch Halloween night, but with the Rangers actually in the World Series, I knew that I would have time for ONE movie before my battery runs out for the evening (it's winding down as I type this!). I really enjoyed the Fangoria Frightfest title PIG HUNT, so I decided to take a chance on another film in that series - DARK HOUSE.

I must say I was happy with my pick. From the opening scene (which was as horrific as anything I have seen in awhile - I'll never look at a kitchen garbage disposal the same again!) to the final cutaway, this movie was a fun, scary ride all the way. OK, a quick synopsis with spoilers kept to a minimum:

Fourteen years ago, seven foster children were brutally murdered by Mrs. Darrode, the owner of a creepy Victorian mansion where she ran a halfway house for troubled and abandoned children. Claire, our main character, was there that day and witnessed the horror, but she can't recall ANYTHING of what transpired. She suffers from night terrors and is deeply emotionally troubled, and her shrink tells her she needs to go to the house and confront her fears once and for all. Claire is an aspiring actress, and that afternoon, as the advanced acting class is rehearsing, spookhouse meistro Warren Walston shows up and explains that he has converted the old Darrode mansion into the ULTIMATE haunted house, and he needs six actors to come and help take the crowds through. He offers the whole class $300 each for one day's work, with the option of future employment, if they will come and help him impress two haunted house critics who are going to write up his newest masterpiece. Claire, hoping that there will be safety in numbers, talks the others into taking him up on it. And so she returns to the Darrode mansion, where seven children and their killer all died . . . and where something unspeakable lives on!

This movie was rockin' awesome! Shot in only 18 days on a very low budget, it has the look and feel of a high budget horror classic. Jeffrey Combs is perfect as Walston, chewing up the scenery in vintage Combs fashion. In short, this movie scared the crap out of me, something few films do nowadays. Great viewing for Halloween night!!!

Oh, yeah - and the Rangers WON!!!!!