The Horror Show
The Houses October Built 2
by Bobby Roe
Back in 2014, a fresh perspective to low-budget Halloween horror movies came to surface. The Houses October Built, directed by Bobby Roe, became a standout found-footage horror flick profiling the intense experiences of a group of thrill-seekers touring several extreme haunted-house attractions across the US.
It wasn’t the type of movie that screamed franchise, however, The Houses October Built was the first installment of a series destined to become a festive found footage must-see. Skillfully tapping into the thrill of the haunt experience, The House October Built takes it to the next level. Roe managed to create an intense mash-up of real haunted attraction footage and fictional horror, and as this recipe worked particularly well a few years ago, Roe brought the gang back for another Halloween extravaganza.
The Houses October Built 2 rehashes the storyline from the original film, starring once again the adventurous group of Brandy (Brandy Schaefer), Jeff (Jeff Larson), Mikey (Mikey Roe), Bobby (Bobby Roe), and Zack (Zack Andrews).
After the horrific happenings of the first part going viral, where Brandy was locked in a coffin and buried alive as part of an extreme Halloween experience, the same group of people are approached by the haunt community to embark on yet another exciting adventure. While this proposition, which is followed by a substantial payout, seems rather appealing to the group, Brandy, aka the Coffin Girl, filled with terrible emotions, turns it down. But, committed to an either-all-or-no one scenario, she eventually agrees to follow the rest and go deeper into the Halloween craze.
The focus is put again on the same characters, same emotions, and same concept. Not particularly refreshing, yet still intriguing. Roe chose to fiddle around with what happened - or didn’t happen - in the first film, rather than dig deeper into the evil behind Blue Skeleton - the mastermind organization behind the absolute extremity of those Halloween experiences.
Even though The Houses October Built 2 does come off like a bit of a struggle, fans are likely to be entertained to see the whole haunt subculture with its freaky masked people once again.
Maria Kriva, HMS
The Horror Show Menu.