The Houses October Built ()

Episode 316, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Well, here we are week two of our Halloween extravaganza, which is always my favorite time of the year, both, uh, personally and for our podcast because we get to do Halloween themed movies. This time around we decided to ask our patrons, uh, what movie.

That are Halloween themed cuz we have patrons now . Yeah. What Halloween themed movies that we don’t know about would you like us to do? And so, uh, we posed that question to them and we got a nice pile of recommendations actually. So that was nice, but we also posed it to everybody else on our Facebook page.

Leisha and Heather both recommended The Houses October Built, which was a movie I had heard about, was on our Halloween list. But, uh, we bumped up to the top because they recommended it. I mean, you know. Uh, two people. You can’t go wrong there. So here we are. Great. , . It’s not just one, but two. Uh, The Houses October Built from 2014, so that’s a good solid, like eight years ago, years ago.

Mm-hmm. that this movie came out and it was directed by a person named Bobby Roe, written by Zach Andrews, Bobby Roe, and Jason Zeta. When I researched this movie on imdb, I realized that, uh, it seems like Bobby Roe, Zach Andrews, and these. Haven’t really done much beyond this film and the sequel to it. So yeah, and 

Craig: I think it started out, uh, they did a documentary first, right?

Like this, this movie, it’s a found footage film about haunted attractions, like during the Halloween season. And I haven’t watched it, but I think that it initially was a documentary on the same subject. And then they made this movie, which obviously is fiction, but uh, I think that’s where it started. 

Todd: They must have used quite a bit of footage from their documentary for this, because they went probably filmed actual haunted attractions around the us.

I don’t know for sure because I didn’t do a ton of research, but it seems like a number of the interviews or whatever, it’s, it’s, it’s presented as a found footage movie of some people who are setting out to do a documentary about the scariest haunted attractions in the US during Halloween time. And, uh, I strongly suspect that a number of the people in this film, and quite a bit of the footage that we’ve seen were literally just people at these haunted attract.

Yeah, quite candid interviews with folks. So, um, not acted at all. And then the plot of this movie sort of framed around it. Uh, and, and you know, I don’t know about you Craig, but uh, well, I’m sure about you, I don’t know, but I’m sure , that um, you enjoy going out during Halloween time and enjoying some of these haunted attractions just as much as.

I do, 

Craig: but nobody else does, so I don’t get to do it very much. Um hmm. Alan’s 

Todd: not into this, huh? No. 

Craig: No. Oh God, no. . Absolutely not. growing up, like I always wanted to do these things, but my sister wasn’t interested. I remember one year when we were little kids, little kids, my parents took us to a haunted house at a frat, which was probably it.

It had to have been my dad. I’m sure my mom had nothing to do with this. My dad took us to like a haunted house at a fraternity. I live in a college town. We have three universities in the town, the small town that I live in. Um, and so the always, every October different fraternities, um, put together haunted attractions and my, my dad took me and my sister to one and like this is when we were little enough.

I, I remember vividly, I have no idea what my costume was. I think maybe I was a clown or something, but my sister was a cat and my, uh, my parents were also, we were not wealthy growing up. I mean, we were. Uh, when I was a kid, my parents were still in school and working. You know, my dad worked in a factory and he worked in a grocery store.

My mom was a nurse and they were still both furthering their education. By the time I was a teenager, they had both finished their educations, had good jobs, so we were comfortable middle class, but when we were little, we didn’t have a lot of money, and so my parents were not. Spending money on Halloween costumes.

So my sister was a cat, which means that she wore a dance outfit. She a black leotard. Leotard. Like the first leotard? Yeah. Yeah. White tights. Uh, a pair of cat ears was probably the only thing that was purchased. And then like one of my dad’s like, Work socks stuffed full of stuff in Pinder butt for a tail.

Todd: Yeah, . 

Craig: And we, we went through this, uh, haunted house and I remember it was scary. It wasn’t for kids. Um, I, I also remember that the guys, the fraternity guys were, were very nice. Um, and, and didn’t try. They didn’t go out of their way to scare us too bad because we were little kids. But I remember that my sister’s tail fell off in the haunted house, , and she was so, she was so distraught after we got out, like I, I, I don’t remember if there were tears, but she was so distraught after we got out and.

Fraternity boys, um, you know, in these scary costumes were so kind to us, and they, they went back inside and, and found her tail and brought 

Todd: it back out for us. They pinned the tail back on your sister . Yeah. 

Craig: I don’t, I, I hope they let my dad do the pinning, but, uh, , but yeah, that, that’s, that’s my big experience.

But they, they do, you know, around here every year they’re, they’re like, Corn mazes and, uh, haunted houses and stuff. I haven’t been to one in years, but I do love them. And so I, I was fascinated by the idea of this movie. I, I, I’ve seen it before. Uh, it was recommended to us to watch, and I do enjoy it for, I enjoy it because I do like to see.

These real, you know, haunted attractions cuz some of them are really impressive. Mm. And I would really like to go, you know, to some of the ones that you see here. Mm. But it makes for an interesting movie because it’s really not plot heavy. It’s, it’s really just them going around , you know, they take us through these different haun.

Attractions, which is kind of fun to see. And there is a plot, but it’s kind of, I don’t 

Todd: know. It’s threadbare. Yeah. It’s really threadbare. And ultimately I will say, I mean, you know, just throwing all my cards in the table right up front. It’s a little disappointing. We, we have an international audience here and so, you know, the more I live abroad and, and, and travel abroad, the more.

Understand wholeheartedly that Halloween is a distinctly American holiday. Yes. Doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. However, over time, other parts of the world have adopted it, and so they may not have the same traditions, they may have created their own traditions. The idea of going through a haunted.

You know, this sort of, uh, attraction where you’re walking through something and getting scared. It’s not unique to the US but, um, I think that in October, maybe people around the world don’t realize that these attractions spring up Around the United States, there are people who make their whole living with these things.

If you drive a short distance from where you. You know, spent a lot of time together to like Kansas City or St. Louis, some other big city. For example, in Kansas City, I went to high school not far from Kansas City, and so every October we would drive into Kansas City around Halloween time, where for the whole month there were these places.

It’s actually usually a really bad part of town that you wouldn’t normally go. Except it’s a little safer during this time because there’s so much traffic. Mm-hmm. and these haunted houses exist. There are old warehouses that, um, back in the day were very bustling and since then have become abandoned and then purchased by people who have repurposed them into these haunted houses, and they’re not open year round.

They’re only open during the month of October, maybe a little bit into November, maybe a little bit into September. Yeah. And they pour a lot of money into these, these buildings to outfit them with different animatronics and different scenery and things like that every single year. And you can go, you pay some money, you walk through here with your friends and you just get scared and you wander through different scenes and things.

It’s, it’s so much fun. It’s super fun. Yeah, it’s super fun and it’s just, you know, again, it’s like watching a horror movie. We’ve talked about this before. Mm-hmm. , it’s a safe way to get scared to sort of real life experience, what it might be like to be, be sought by demons and monsters and things like that, but you know you’re gonna be okay.

There might be, even in the smallest town, there might be three or four of these varying in quality, but they’re usually thrown together in some place. They were able to rent out for a little while. But thrown together an earnest, and they’re usually really fun to go through. As a kid in high school, my dad and I were enlisted to create our own haunted house for the local fall festival that was done by our middle school that my sisters were in.

My sisters were in middle school, I was in high school, and so my dad and I got a measly $500 budget, and with that went out and bought lumber and props and all kinds of stuff, and plotted out on paper. And constructed this haunted house in the band room, of the, uh, middle school, local middle school to put on.

That was just loads of fun. Like it’s loads of fun being on the, the, the part of going through it, it’s loads of fun being on the side of like, putting these things together and, and scaring people. It’s just one of my all time favorite things to do during Halloween and living in China. I just miss it so.

We used to do this as kids for like our families, like in my grandparents’ house, we would make haunted houses for them to go through. Aw. It’s just fun. So, So to have a movie just based around this is already a sell for me, You know, I’m already into it. Um, and this being a found footage movie, like you said, that takes you through actual places that exist.

I wanna see these places. I wanna see what they are. Yeah, I wanna check it out, you know, regardless of the plot of the movie. So yeah, it gets me in the spirit of things, it’s, 

Craig: it’s funny because obviously I, I had never heard that story of yours before, but it’s, it’s interesting, the people were nice and, and looking out for kids, which I, I, I, I guess shouldn’t surprise me because we’ve talked about this.

We’ve talked to people who go to horror conventions and stuff, and they say that horror fans are really some of the kindest people they’ve ever met, but this movie isn’t . This movie will make you think that going to these kinds of attractions. is dangerous, puts you and and I 

Todd: and puts 

Craig: you in peril. , and, and to be fair, you know what, what these folks are doing, there’s like, it’s five friends.

They are looking for the most extreme haunted attractions. Like that’s, that’s what they wanna find is the most extreme. And of, I’ve never done that. I’ve never sought those out. And, and maybe they exist, but this movie makes. Seem like you may legitimately be putting yourself at risk. In fact, like there are a couple of scenes where the workers at these different events are aggressively hostile towards, Yeah.

Are, are characters and, and you know, that hasn’t been my experience at all, but maybe it does happen. Not me neither. The, the truth is , I don’t, you know, they’re seeking these things out where, There are no rules. You know, I, I, I think that it’s kind of generally understood at most of these things. These, the, the people who are working them will do whatever they can in their power to frighten you, but you are safe.

That’s the expectation. And most of the time, like they won’t touch you. You know, they might chase you. They might chase you, and they might men 

Todd: you, they’re prohibited from touching you, but yeah, but they won’t 

Craig: touch you, you. You’re fine. And that’s in this movie, not the case. But again, that’s what they’re seeking out.

They, they want, Yeah. It’s actually, you know, uh, pretty clever. They are. Interviewing the employees at these places and asking them, What have you heard about the most extreme places? What can you tell us about the most extreme places? Um, and all of it is rumor, uh, yeah. You know, nobody can say with any kind of certainty.

That these extreme places actually exist. It’s always, Well, I’ve heard about this place here, or I’ve heard about this attraction here, so that you never really know if it’s real, but that’s what they’re seeking out. 

Todd: Well, and that’s kind of the nice thing about it, right? Haven’t we all, I, I mean, I don’t know about you, but I live near Detroit for, um, I guess this would’ve been between my, uh, year, uh, grade three and grade six.

I lived in Detroit. And, uh, there was a rumor that was going around at the time about a haunted house that was six stories high, each story being progressively more and more scary, and you paid six hours to get in. And after every floor, they would give you a dollar back. So the idea was that if you could make it through all six floors, you would get to go through this haunted house for free, but nobody would could ever get through, you know, the sixth floor because it was just, all of it was just so, so scary.

And you know, To my fourth grade, fifth grade mind. That sounds entirely plausible as an adult. It sounds extremely ridiculous, right? . Yeah. But, but nonetheless, like these stories, they exist. Um, and then there are very real things that have happened in these haunted houses, right? Not to discount the fact at the same time when I lived in Michigan, uh, there was a news story about a haunted house attraction.

Th there was a scene, it was like, um, I think it was like a hospital scene and there were people under sheets on tables and things that were then going to spring out, you know, and scare people. And, uh, somebody went through this attraction being a wise guy, thinking he was gonna be silly and, and, and show off in front of his friends.

And he picked up a prop from the room, which happened to be an actual ax, which is really stupid, right. You should not have real weapons anywhere near these attractions. But anyway, there was a real ax there and this person picked up one of these acts and asked one of these, thinking that it was a dummy under the table and it was actually a person and that person got injured.

I don’t know if they got killed, they got injured or what, but this was, uh, this actually happened. You know, not only are there legends and stories about these haunted attractions that are so extreme and, you know, crazy stuff happens, but there are also stories and, and truths about actual accidents that happen in these places because of neglect.

Or people are just going through and trying to impress their friends and be, and be silly and, you know, cause harm. So, uh, there’s sort of both sides of this coin, and I think that this story plays off. 

Craig: Yeah, the, I mean, the movie addresses it directly there. I mean, there’s lots of, uh, uh, script like on the screen, especially in the first part of the movie.

It starts out with a quote that says, I’m not afraid of werewolves or vampires or haunted houses. I’m afraid of what real human beings due to other real human beings. Uh, it’s a quote from Walter John Williams. I don’t know who that is. That makes sense. But then another thing that they tell us, you know, we see on the screen in print is pressure to deliver the most extreme experience imaginable has led to a dramatic increase in accidents, injuries, and crimes.

And I imagine that that’s probably true. You know, I, I, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but they tell at least one story about a performer in a scene. , they were supposed to be hung by the neck. Um, somehow accidentally was really hung and nobody realized it, you know, until the end of the night. And I can imagine that happening.

We’ve talked about this before. We’ve talked about how Yeah. You know, 4th of July, if you’re gonna shoot somebody, do it on the 4th of July because Yeah, because yeah, it, same thing with Halloween. Like we watched a. Satan’s little helper years ago. Do you remember that? Where this. Where this, uh, crazy killer is going around killing all these people and then like setting up their bodies like Halloween displays and everybody just thinks it’s awesome, like so.

Mm-hmm. , I, I can imagine how something things like that could happen because you expect to see carnage, you expect to see bodies. Um, so if there is an accident where somebody is legitimately injured or killed, You might not give it much of a second thought, cuz that’s what you expect to see. Now, how often that actually happens?

I have no idea. But, uh, they play on that here. I don’t know, like, so the, the whole movie. Basically it’s just them traveling around in a sweet 

Todd: rv, , Oh, I would love this rv. Rv. I 

Craig: would live in that rv. 

Todd: We had a camper and it was this rv, but like, like in half, like cut it in half, , and that was ours. So it was way more cramped than this.

Oh God. That’s the whole time I was watching it. 

Craig: I was like, it’s, this RV is much nicer than any apartment I ever lived in in college. , , and bigger too

But anyway, it’s these five friends, you know, they’re traveling around in this sweet RV and they just keep going to different attractions and, and the places they go. I think they’re in Texas for most of the time. Seems like a, Yeah, we see them going through these haunted houses and they look like really good haunted houses.

One of the things that I liked and that they actually comment on is they tend to arrive early, like uh, when the sun is still out, and so they see. The preparation. Yeah. They see the things, you know, the, the, the haunts are pretty much set up, but you know, they see the performers getting into makeup and getting into costume and, you know, just standing out back of the place like smoking cigarettes and stuff.

And, and that’s, that was interesting to see. I feel like it would be really cool to kind of get to see the behind the scenes. Stuff. Uh, and they do get to see that. Yeah. But other than that, it’s just them going through the, the haunts and, and the haunts are good, and they are scary and throughout consistently.

Then there’s some weird stuff that’s going on. That ultimately culminates in the big finale, but really, it, it, it feels, I mean, they are filming it as though it’s a documentary, and so in many ways it, it feels like a documentary. It does like a fan made. Documentary. 

Todd: I would like a really cheap, you know, couple, like if you and I were to go out with a few of our friends and like with a camp quarter.

Yeah. Yeah. And it, I, the one thing I would say is it felt very legitimate. Like sometimes, you know, acting feels like acting, especially with actors. Who don’t have a lot of credits to their name, but uh, in this case it all felt quite real because Yeah. Well, the movie, Okay, so it’s Bobby, Mike, Zach, Jeff and Brandy.

There’s only one girl here, which I thought was kind of unusual. Uh, Bobby is Mike’s brother. He’s got the long hair. Mike is the dude running the camera half the time. He’s got a beard. Zach is sort of the leader of the operation. And then there’s Jeff. We don’t actually see too much of or hear too much of.

No. For most of it. . Yeah. 

Craig: No, and, and it kicked off. I had a hard time keeping 

Todd: track of. Yeah, me too. I, I had to constantly go back because it doesn’t, it doesn’t really matter, right. It’s just these, these five, it doesn 

Craig: doesn’t, they’re just friends and like you said, they seem real. Mm-hmm. , they seem like people I would be friends with.

My favorite one was Mike. They call him Mikey. He’s kind of a, a portly guy, but he also appears to be kind of the womanizer of the. Yeah, you know, the jokester and he’s funny. I really enjoyed him. And, uh, the fact that there is only the one woman and, and she, Brandy, whose girlfriend is she? She’s one of their, I can’t 

Todd: remember.

Craig: Zach, I think, I’m pretty sure. I think she’s Zach’s girlfriend and I think that that’s kind of why she’s there. . It was smart. I think for them to include at least one woman. This could have very easily been a buddy type thing, you know? Yeah. Uh, a bunch of guys going around. I think it was I smart to include one woman because.

Sadly, realistically, I think that women are probably more vulnerable in these types of situations. Yeah, I, I think it’s an opportunity for jerks and creeps to get handsy and, you know, say that it’s for the sake of the haunts or whatever, potentially. But it comes up here. I mean, she does get, it does touched, it does in ways that she doesn’t want that make her uncomfortable.

And there are times when she. Accidentally or, or somebody does it intentionally, she gets isolated and the threat just seems, you know, when the guys are in peril, I’m worried that they might get hurt or killed when the woman is in peril. I’m. More concerned. Does that make sense? Yeah. Does that sound 

Todd: super sexist?

No. It, No, it makes, it makes total sense because I think that the reality of life is that women are generally more, Im peril than women, than men are because men can be such SCU bags. Yeah. And, and men don’t even realize they’re being guzz bags. They don’t realize sometimes that they’re making women uncomfortable by making their, uh, locker room talk around them.

Yeah. They don’t understand that women feel threatened. That’s a little, little lesson we all need to teach our sons. 

Craig: Well, yes, absolutely. And especially, especially because she’s alone. You know, like if, if she had another woman or other women with her, I, you know, there’s, Right, there’s power in numbers, but she’s, she’s alone.

Um, which makes her even more vulnerable, 

Todd: I think. But let’s be clear. I mean, she’s completely comfortable, it seems around the guys she’s traveling with. 

Craig: Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. You’re friends. Yeah. And they look out 

Todd: for her. Yeah. But I think the movie does a good job by, uh, you know, sort of doing a foreshadowing bit at the beginning where they, they show her later, we realize it’s her, but at the beginning, we haven’t been introduced to her.

A woman getting thrown into a trunk by some people in costume. Yeah. Get her in the trunk and these guys put her in there and, and, Clearly like, like sort of might maybe be drugged or something, or she’s been knocked out and she’s kind of coming to her senses and she’s in the trunk and she uhhuh, , uh, kind of wakes up.

Doesn’t really say anything. I think that was a good way to start out the movie because it gives us something to look forward to it get, it kind of makes us realize things are going to get serious. Later on. Yeah. And then it kick kicks us back to six days earlier. We’re in Tyler, Texas, we’re in a bar and we meet everyone.

And actually, what I really liked about this bit of the movie and, and as you said, sort of the whole movie, is that these guys, because they’re going on this journey to find the most extreme haunted house led by Zach, they’re at this bar and they just chat. What’s scary, what scares them. They talk about haunted houses and their experiences with haunted houses.

I’ve heard people talk about the ones that, like in 

Craig: New York, they zip tie you to a chair, stop the talking about bags over the head, That 

Todd: kind of thing. That’s a different story. It’s just like movies. It’s like, it’s the same thing. It’s changed jcs, Haunted house is in the sixties. You walk around and guys jumped out and said, Boo, that doesn’t 

Craig: cut it anymore.

When you were little going through haunted houses, you didn’t know if it was real or not, right? Element that, what that feels like. I wanna find it again. 

Todd: They talk about, uh, how do they recruit people to work this? And, and one theme that keeps coming up through the movie, which is so dead on that it’s kind of a little too obvious, is they keep bringing up how do they recruit people to work this thing?

They don’t do background checks on workers. There could be really creepy people working in these things. You know, they probably wouldn’t even know because they’re just these sort of, you know, one month off deal. and that keeps coming up again and again to the point where it gets hammered into you pretty early.

That this is gonna be a movie about haunted houses where less than savory people with less than savory intentions were hired to work there. So Right. That’s like the premise of the movie. Now, as you and I chatted about earlier, I just kind of wanna point out, I don’t really think this actually happens too much.

I mean, certainly, Right? Who knows things can happen, but the reality of the matter is there’s insurance , there’s, there’s liability, right? There’s all kinds of, yes. Of shit that the, the owners of these haunted houses that have thousands of people that go through them every single day have to keep an eye on, and there’s no way in how that they’re lackadaisical about who they hire and you know, their behavior in these things.

You know, one untoward thing, and they would get. I just wanna throw that out there. Right. . 

Craig: Well, and, and as you very much, you, you definitely should because you’re absolutely right. I, I think that the vast, vast, vast majority of these attractions are, are perfectly safe. But the movie makes me question if there is a subculture that I’m unaware of.

Mm-hmm. are there these underground places. That probably do not concern themselves with liability and whatnot. And I, and I honestly don’t know, I if they do exist, I am unaware of them, but, but theoretically, but that’s, theoretically it could be. Well, and, and that’s something that I, I give the movie credit for, it, it gives me a sense of unease.

Mm-hmm. that even though I would never anticipate that anything like this would happen. It could happen . You know what I mean? Uh, and, and I like, I like that in a, in a scary movie. I li that gets under my skin thinking this could happen. I don’t think it would, but it could. 

Todd: I mean, this is the thing, and it’s ripe territory for this, you know, as they’re in their RV now and they’re, they’re moot traveling.

We get a lot of footage of them chatting back and forth about it. And I think it’s interesting. I was not bored. Ah. M I actually really wasn’t bored by this movie. Maybe just because I’m interested in this, you know, the subject matter, but I wasn’t bored because they’re chatting back and forth about this.

And one thing that Zach constantly is, is talking about is where we’re going. There are no rules, there are no regulations. You know, we’re going to like the back waters of America, like Backwoods of Texas and these things, which once again, as I said earlier, like these haunted attractions are often set up by just the.

People, there is no formal regulation around it. You know, there’s just, uh, the local Kiwanis Club or whatever that sets up this thing. Yeah. Anybody theoretically could do it, start charging admission, Uhhuh, and uh, then they’re gone, you know, a week later. So that is, You know, ripe territory for this possibility.

So it, you’re right, it does put you on edge. And they talk about this openly. I feel like the only haunts I’ve ever been to are the ones at like 

Craig: theme parks or something like that, where the scariest thing is somebody running up to you while you’re waiting in line for a hot dog or something. 

Todd: I promise you, they’re not gonna be like that.

If we’re gonna be out in the country, there’s gonna be no rules, no regulations 

Craig: is always, I don’t know how this sounds like a good thing. I know this is always what you wish. There’s gonna be no. No regulations. You 

Todd: don’t even know where we’re going. However, it’s very clear that the first few haunted houses they come to are, you know, they’re just like, they’re full of people and, and there’s nothing untoward happening there except for.

Some creepy folks who keep 

Craig: popping up. That’s the thing. Like they are, I don’t know. They’re good, they’re good haunts. Um, but they’re fairly typical. Yeah. And it seems like you can kind of tell for the most part, who probably are the real people who just work at these places and the, the patrons of these places.

Um, cuz I do imagine that they just filmed these on real locations. I would. Yeah, but at every single one, there’s at least one person in costume that seems off. Yeah. And of course this is documentary style, so they’re just swinging the camera around and the camera will just catch these people who are usually standing very still and just staring at them from the very beginning.

Yeah. And. Ah, that is part of the movie that I don’t know, like, I don’t know if I can really get on board with this because yes, at every single attraction they are talking to people. And asking, what’s the most extreme haunt? Have you heard any rumors? And they’re getting little bits of information every now and again.

And eventually they hear about this, uh, group or or ha called blue skeleton or, or, or something like that. Yeah. Um, and they, and they keep getting little teeny, teeny tiny bits of information. Ultimately they end up encountering this group . Yeah. But it it seems like from the very beginning Yeah. This group is looking out is is watching them, has their eyes on them.

Yeah. And I suppose that it could be true because they are also frequenting chat rooms like, um, Like extreme HA chat rooms. So they have an online presence. Yeah, so maybe this group, whoever it is, our friends, our five people, maybe they caught this group’s attention via their online presence, but I don’t know, I found it a little hard to believe that they were watching the whole.

Todd: I did too. I, it’s super farfetched. We’ll get to the culmination of this later, but like, suffice it to say that at every attraction they go to, there’s some character who’s weird at one. It’s a clown at one. It’s a girl with like kind of a white mask on or 

Craig: whatever. A Yeah, like a porcelain doll kind of face.

Todd: Yeah. And so like, they just like, you know, the camera lingers on them and they seem off, and then you see them later. when you shouldn’t see them later, right? Because they’re literally traveling miles down the road to different attractions, right? So the idea is there are these. These weird people working at separate haunts, miles and miles away from each other that are somehow in cahoots.

Craig: Well see. And that’s not even what I thought. I just thought that they were following them like it. It’s this group, whoever they are, this extreme HA group and they’re following the, This 

Todd: one group of people. Yes. Group of five people. Yeah. Right. It’s. It’s ridiculous. It’s, it’s, it 

Craig: is spook. It is ridiculous, but it is spooky.

Yeah. You know when you can pick out those, S the ones that just don’t quite fit in to everything else. Like they stand out and you can pick them out. And at one point, you know, one of the guys at the, before they even go in, um, one of the guys goes to take a piss in the woods. Um, in this creepy guy, in a bunny suit, Like messes with him.

Yeah. But then ultimately just leaves him alone, which is 

Todd: typical for these things. Well, yeah. 

Craig: And you. Right? And, and at other times you see people in full costume, which I also thought was interesting. You know, getting in their faces or, or confronting them or, or block, you know, standing in the road and blocking their car.

And one of the things that I liked about that was I thought, you know, you can’t. Regardless of what the costume is, you cannot identify the person behind the costume. Right. They’re like completely anonymous. Yeah. And I thought that was creepy too. There was 

Todd: one scene that I really liked that I thought was really poignant, and that was, uh, their, they’re camping and it’s early on, but it’s, it’s, it’s when they’re outside of one of the haunts, but they decide to park.

Camper by the side of the road and they’re gonna sleep and they build little campfire and they’re all chatting. And there’s this dude, this, uh, it’s a, it’s a black guy who just kind of comes outta nowhere towards them from the woods. And, uh, you know, they’re chatting about this stuff. And then Bobby’s like talking to him about the haunts cuz he realizes he’s from this haunt, which I guess is up the street.

Uhhuh . Kind of in makeup and stuff. 

Craig: He says he lives in the woods. Like, I didn’t know what to make of this 

Todd: guy. No, it was a little weird, but Bobby says to him, Which haunt do you work at? The one down the road? Yeah. Yeah. We’re going there next, I think. Yeah. We see a bunch of kids in a lot of these haunts.

Cause no one’s calling social services on him. They’re like eight, nine years old. You know? It’s like hearing like backwood shit. There’s no rules. There’s none of that stuff. What you mean backwood? Like he’s offended, you know? And they don’t really know how to respond to that cuz they don’t wanna offend this guy.

You know, it, it just sort of sets this tone, right? Like, yeah, I don’t know. It’s like a mix, right? It’s a mix between unhinged people and also people who are upset, like sort of a deliverance vibe, I suppose. That was a clever scene. . They do zombie paintball, which is something I heard about. Never did, but Sounds like that was awesome.

Craig: I had never like, and, and I’ve seen this movie before and I completely forgot that part, but No, that was so cool. , right? That would be so much fun. It’s like, it’s just a hay, a hay ride where you get to shoot zombies with paintball guns. 

Todd: That’s awesome. . It’s so cool. That’s kind of one of 

Craig: the last. Fun things.

Mm. Because then they do, they get tipped off about this place and, and I think that they find out that it’s gonna be in Louisiana. So they start heading that way. They stop at a, a horror themed strip club. Oh God. It’s like, Which is 

Todd: like that. That was weird. That’s the most unappealing thing I can think of.

I do not wanna see. Yeah. If anyone’s gonna be shaking their boobs in my face. I don’t want them to be a zombie . No. I don’t want 

Craig: stuff on their face. That was kind of, . Um, but then they’re, they also get, somebody gives them like a clue that they have to go to this little bar in some hole in the wall town.

Um, and they go, and it’s the creepiest ass bar I’ve ever seen. Like apparently it’s a bar exclusively for people who work at haunts. Yeah. And so like, they’re in various stages of costume and, and makeup. And there’s this creepy ass clown that like dances around them and the girl brandy gets cornered in a bathroom by a couple of big guys who are messing with her.

It’s extremely messed up. That was a, a really, Uh huh. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s unbelievable , right? This, this place only exists in a horror movie. Yeah. I understand that. There are some rough bars in America, but 

Todd: come on, not this place. Yeah, 

Craig: it’s true. And then people start messing with them like pretty intensely.

Yeah. Um, 

Todd: they’re. They’re in their van. And, uh, we see, well, like you said earlier, there’s a, there’s a shot of, uh, you know, when they wake up and there’s banging on their van and St and then on their camper and stuff, and they wake up and they flip the headlights on, and they, they’re surrounded by people in costume, several of whom we’ve seen before from the haunt.

Right. I dunno. The lights go out and shit happens and whatnot, and then when the lights come on, nobody’s there. So we’re getting the sense that these people, like you said, are uniquely being terrorized, which. Very unrealistic, 

Craig: but whatever. At one point, I don’t know if it’s their cam, but the, the camera is being held by somebody who we don’t know who it is.

Yeah. Because it’s nighttime and everybody’s asleep and we see all of the five friends are sleeping, so we don’t know. Who the camera person is. Um, and it’s very creepy. 

Todd: We’ve seen this in another movie before, right? This whole idea that everybody’s sleeping, but somebody’s behind a camera in night vision and they’re filming everyone as they’re walking around and like poking 

at 

Craig: them.

All this now that you say, so, yeah, but I don’t know what it was. 

Todd: I don’t remember the movie, but yeah, we’ve seen this at least once 

Craig: before. Yeah. So yeah, so they’re, I mean, they’re really getting messed with at this point, like people beating on the camper. All kinds of weird stuff. But eventually they wake up one morning, there’s noise outside.

They go outside and they find a pumpkin and it has a note on it that says, Carve me. And so Zach, I think, cuts it open. And there’s an invitation inside the pumpkin from this blue skeleton group and it says, Meet us on Bourbon Street tonight. It’s Halloween now. Um, and they are, there are, uh, masks blue.

Skull masks for each of them left on the dashboard, , and so they go and they go to Bourbon Street again. You know, I can only imagine. I don’t know. I I would imagine they probably just filmed on location and planted a few people. Yeah. But yeah, they’re on Bourbon Street. They go up and down. They’re looking for blue skeleton folks.

They can’t find them. Eventually one of them, I don’t remember which one it was. It doesn’t matter. One of the. Sees somebody in a blue skeleton mask, uh, duck into an alley. Yeah. Um, and he, like an idiot, follows this guy down the alley. Like he’s calling for the other people to follow him, his friends to follow him, but they don’t hear.

And so he goes in there by himself and is confronted and surrounded by all of those creepy characters that we’ve seen 

Todd: before. Yeah. There’s like a girl, there’s a clown. There’s that rabbit from the. They’re all there. Yeah. Like all these people who over the last two weeks or whatever they’ve seen at these random haunts around have presumably been following them and scheming to corner this guy down an alley so that they can bag him.

Yeah, it’s, it’s dumb. And then , I think it’s dumb. And then, uh, I think that was Jeff, maybe, or Bobby. Anyway, Zach, I think it was Jeff. I don’t know. Yeah, Zach tries to call him. He gets a voicemail that says to meet them at a particular intersection in the woods so that they can finally go to Blue Skeleton, which is what Zach’s been trying to do this whole time, and sort of been half directed by this online group and half directed.

The people. He met some people in a haunt who were like, Oh, blue skeleton, 

Craig: blah, blah, blah. That was frustrating to me too because I feel like even at this point when one of their friends has been abducted, Zach is still like, Let’s go find blue 

Todd: skeleton. Oh, it’s just, 

Craig: yeah, it’s just, it’s just part of the thing.

This is what we, this is what we were looking for. It’s just part of, Dude, your friend got abducted, like. That’s serious. , like, this isn’t fun. This, and the, the other friends, you know, that’s, that’s their response too. They’re like, This isn’t cool. This isn’t fun. Yeah. But he’s still kind of into it. So they go, they meet them at the intersection, like somehow they’re texting Zach, I think the blue people are, and they’re like, Come out of the bus within 60 seconds.

Or your friend 

Todd: dies. Yeah, there’s a school bus there. That pulls up and, But they’re likes pull. Yeah. Come outta the RV in 60 seconds or your friend will die. And then there’s some argument that goes out. He approaches the bus. There’s an explosion which breaks the windows of the rv, and then two guys with the skull masks and clown masks come into the rv.

And now basically everybody’s being let outside with bags over their heads. One of the blue skeleton guys have picked up their. Remember, this is all found footage. So right now it seems to be someone from like Blue Skeleton who’s filming. And by the way, in, in, you know, the beginning of the, the whole beginning of the movie, uh, there was some text on the screen that said that this.

Was put together with footage from these guys, plus footage from the blue skeleton people or whatever. So they take the guys off the bus, but they leave brandy on there. It 

Craig: seems like they set them all, They split them all up and it seems like they kind of set them in like individual little haunted houses that maybe interconnect because eventually their paths 

Todd: cross.

Yeah. This is so disappointing. 

Craig: It was kind of disapp. Well, look, I didn’t know what was going on. Actually. What I was thinking was this, Is it like this is what they were looking for? This is the extreme experience they were looking for. Yeah. I just thought, oh, well, I, I guess it really is. You know, it’s just real, It’s a really extreme hot like, but.

That’s what I, I, at this point, I thought, Oh, it’s just a haunted house. 

Todd: It’s lame shit. I, I, I, I, this is where the movie fell apart from me. Brandy’s on this bus now, or whatever, and somebody says to her, Count to 30 seconds and remove your hood, and there’s gonna be a video camera sitting right next to you.

Pick it up. And record everything you see. You know, I’m thinking we’re getting into like saw type shit here, right? Yeah. They cut her ties and she does it. Nobody’s there. She gets off the bus. She approaches this shack, basically. And then we see the camera view of someone who I, I’m not sure who it is. It might be Mike.

It’s like he’s in a cabin or something similar. Might be the same one. Who knows? He’s like sort of wandering around. Then there’s somebody else with like a, all they have is a glow stick to like kind of light themselves. They might be in the same cabin, who knows? But then they eventually meet up with each other because, uh, someone, I’m not sure who it is, it might be Zach, sees Michael in a room.

So like the lights suddenly come on and there’s sort of a window, but it must be soundproof. Michael Springs up and he’s in this room and he’s banging around, and then, I don’t know, like Bobby gets stabbed or something, and then we go to Brandy, who gets put in the trunk of a car. I mean, it’s just like, here’s the deal.

The whole premise was set up, and this was the thing I was excited about was this lore of the most extreme, scary haunted house. That they’re looking for. Yeah. At the end of the day, they all just end up becoming abd. It’s not a haunted house they have to go through. They’re just kind of like, Well, I mean, 

Craig: they’re being minused a little bit.

They’re being maned a little bit, but it not, I don’t know. Somebody, somebody chases one of them. There’s like a creepy little girl. That was weird. Like, Like a child. Yeah. That was 

Todd: weird. But at the end of the day, They just like brandy gets thrown in a trunk and, and then they all get Yeah. They wake up in coffins.

She wakes up in a coffin, Mike’s in a coffin, and, and then, and then we just see from the outside they’re being buried alive. Which is horrifying, by the way. Right. But that’s it. , they, they all wake up. Yeah. We see that they’re being buried by the people who are wearing the masks that we saw. . It’s the end of the fucking movie

It’s not a haunted house. Like what? This whole blue skeleton haunted house thing. Like what? No. Oh God. Right. I was so disappointed. 

Craig: Sorry. What do these people get out of this? Like, are they just masochists who like to kill people? So they set up these elaborate things and follow people across states to take them through a lame, haunted house.

Like any, any of the other haunted houses that they visited throughout the movie were way better than the last one. So like, you didn’t even, you didn’t even get your 

Todd: money’s worth. Totally 

Craig: not, and then they just get buried . 

Todd: Look, we’ve seen haunted house, like haunted movies centered around haunted houses.

There was hell House llc, which was that underwater haunted house . What was the one, What was the one where again, people go to this random haunted house out in the middle of nowhere and they’re the only people there, and they’re going through rooms and things and like they get separated and stuff. I, What was that?

I don’t know. God, I don’t know. But anyway, we’ve seen great movies themed around haunted houses that like kind of were consistent and paid off. This movie just, I think, falls apart three quarters of the way through. And the reason I was on board with them was cuz it was a found footage movie and they were talking about something I loved and there was this authenticity.

Them visiting, like I actually enjoyed the footage of them going through these ostensibly real haunted houses. That was sort of fun for me. It kind of got me excited for Halloween. And then they’re talking about hitting this urban legend, haunted house that everybody’s, you know, rumored and they go there and it’s not even a haunted.

It’s just psycho people kidnapping them and then bearing them alive. It’s no fun. . 

Craig: Yeah, 

Todd: I know what you mean. It’s such a let down. It’s just like you set up a premise, man. You can’t just like do deliver on that premise. You just completely let me down. So I was super disappointed. 

Craig: That’s funny. You, you would probably be even more disappointed cuz you know there’s a sequel.

Todd: I heard I would and there is a 

Craig: sequel. Have you seen it? Yeah. Spoiler alert. It stars all the same people. So, Whoa, . I don’t remember how they explain it. I don’t remember how they explain it, but they’re all alive. 

Todd: Does it redeem this movie in some way? Some 

Craig: way? No. If this, uh, honestly, like this is the second time I’ve seen this movie and I remembered.

I thought I remembered liking it, but it did not hold up on a second viewing. I actually was kind of bored, but to be fair, I’ve seen it before. So there were no surprises. I knew what was going on. Um, I kind of vaguely remember liking the second one too. It’s bigger in scope. I feel like they probably had a bigger budget.

Um, but ultimately, It’s kind of the same movie, . Um, so yeah, if you didn’t care for this one, I, you can skip, uh, the sequel . I, I appreciated, you know, the effort, like you’re right, like it was a good idea. Um, it’s an interesting subject. It was cool to see kind of, I realize that this is fiction and that it was set up or whatever, but there’s a documentary element to it where you.

Get to see these real places that were really cool and, and it looked like a really fun environment with people really celebrating the season. And then of course, you know, just horror in general. That part of it was fun, the narrative. Was a little stupid . But, but that’s, but that’s also not to say that there weren’t creepy moments.

Those people in those costumes, which by the way were were good, scary costumes. Um, they were very menacing. And it, it was. Tense. I did feel tense in some of those moments. I didn’t need to see it a second time. I won’t watch it again, . But, you know, it’s, it’s not awful. I wouldn’t warn people away from it. Uh, there are things in it that I am glad to have seen, but not, not one of my favorites.

Todd: Well, here’s what I would say in summarization, in the spirit of getting you in the mood for Halloween, the first three quarter of this movie. If you just watch it as a kind of documentary and you just want to get stoked for haunted houses and see some other haunted houses and just kind of get in the mood of things and that like, it’s great.

I really enjoyed that part. I feel like this is something I could have gone out and done with my friends, right? But trying to make a narrative out of this that ultimately ends up in a horror movie, like it was a lame tack on that ultimately just felt stupid. , not satisfying. And, and then to find out. So 

Craig: thank you for your recommendation.

Patrons. 

Todd: Yeah, . . Just like watch the first three quarters and then don’t watch it again. And then like don’t, don’t expect a horror movie out of it. Just watch it as like a documentary and get to see some cool haunted houses and to find out there’s a sequel to this that picks up where this one left leaves off.

Like, I don’t even know, man. I and I don’t think maybe. I don’t think we’ll ever get to it cuz I’m so un interested. Yeah. . Yeah. 

Craig: It, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know unless we just run out, which I don’t see happening, but, uh, that’s not gonna happen. , I, I, I honestly, I, I don’t have as negative feelings about it as you do.

I think it’s okay. I think 

Todd: it’s fine. Well, I told you I was on board at, you know, three quarters of the way through. I was really into it for a little while. 

Craig: I’m not, I’m not mad about it. I’m not mad that I saw it, and I, and I, I honestly, in all sincerity, I appreciate the recommendation. Sure. Because if I hadn’t seen it, it would be a movie that I wanted to see.

So, uh, I do appreciate the recommendation. Thank you to Alicia and Heather that Yes. And it’s very much in the spirit of Halloween, and I love Halloween. It’s all good. 

Todd: All right, Well, thank you again for listening to another episode. If you enjoy this one, please share with your friends. We have a couple more Halloween episodes coming your way this month, so stay tuned.

If you enjoy this podcast, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Go to patreon.com/chainsaw podcast. You’re gonna find a lot of goodies on there, some mini sos that, uh, we record every month as well as a long interview with us and the completely unedited version of our phone calls that, uh, result.

Podcast. Happy Halloween to all of you. Until next time. I’m Todd –

Craig: And I’m Craig –

Todd: With Two Guys and a Chainsaw.