Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Houses October Built’

Written by Scott Edwards

​One of my favorite holidays of the year is Halloween. I am not sure why this is, but I am pretty sure it revolves around my love for horror films and all things scary. I love watching people getting dressed up as creeps and ghouls and taking to the streets to try to get a little bit of candy, but I love it when they jump out from behind a bush and give people the scares of a lifetime. I have done this before and had it done to me as well, and although it is in good fun, some people may take the scare tactics a little bit too far.

Five friends have taken to the streets this year in their motor home for one thing and one thing only, to find the scariest haunted house in the country. Looking to have socks scared off, their real mission is to find a mythical horror group and their house called the Blue Skeleton, which is a place that is able to bring fears to life in their haunted houses. But the group that operates this house, moves around the country and there is no way to find them unless you are in the group, but it is not for everyone since few can handle their scare tactics. 

Making a documentary along on the way, the group is trying to debunk some of the popular stories about haunted houses and what happens inside when nobody is paying attention. But when it comes out that most of these stories are true, the five friends need to find the scariest haunted house in the land and see how it actually works. Getting their first haunted house out of the way, the group heads cross country in search of any of the underground haunts that they can find. But they are not alone as they are forced out of their first house and now there seems to be someone following them. Hitting the different haunts around the country is all well and good, but the group needs to find the most exclusive haunted house to make their film complete. When all seems to be lost, they get a little invite from someone that knows of this secret group, but will the five friends be prepared for what is in store for them?

The Houses October Built follows a group of five friends as they are trying to find the scariest haunted houses in the country. With stories of real body parts and convicts being included in the scares, they group is setting out to see if any of this is actually true. Shooting a documentary along the way, the group encounters some genuine freaks, but when upsetting the wrong set of haunters at their first stop, the group is in for much more than they have bargained for. Going from house to house and not being able to find what they are looking for, they continue to see some familiar faces in the crowd, but they are far from friendly. Only wanting to locate the Blue Skeleton haunted house, the group is given a lead that they cannot pass up, but when they are contacted in a very sensitive way, the group may not want to get the scare of their lives if it gets as twisted as they are expecting.

This movie makes me stand up and cheer for haunted houses all over the nation, then sit back down and wonder as to whether or not what I saw when walking through them could have been something real. According to the movie, there are a ton of regulations in place to make sure the patrons do not get hurt, but there is nothing saying that the employees cannot do other things. The better the scare, the more people will come to the haunted house and the more money you will make. I liked how the movie flowed from site to site with the bits and pieces of their interviews being sewed in. I am always a sucker for a good scare, I mean, how else do you know if you are alive if you don’t try to jump out of your seat once in a while. Being followed by one group of haunters would be freaky enough for me to give up my search, but if they remained in their costumes the entire time, yup, I would have to quit right then and there. Stay Scared.

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