Well, well, well. I will be damned, the rumors were true, Haunt (2019) really is a good movie! If you have not watched it already and are game for an hour-and-a-half of good quality Horror fun, go to Amazon #notspons and enjoy the gory ride that is Haunt! (But wait, after you are done there, come back here and find out what I have to say about it, mmmkay?)
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Haunt is not your typical haunted house story—thank goodness—as it avoids all the expected clichés and instead kicks you in the balls with its left turns and zigzags, all of them happening in a controlled small environment. But wait, I am getting ahead of myself.
The main character of the story is Harper, a college student who is in an abusive relationship with a man. He hits her. She is in denial. Her roommate, Bailey, confronts her and tells her she must break up with the alcoholic guy, but Harper brushes her off, after all, her black eye is covered up with make-up now, so nothing really happened…
Bailey cares for Harper and in effort to not leave her alone, invites her to come along to a Halloween party. At the Halloween party they all seem to have a good time, they meet a few friends there, and later on decide to continue the festivities somewhere else. That else was a random Haunted House they found by accident, right when they moved to the side of the road and parked the car at Harper’s request, you see, Harper was feeling a little on edge and thought she saw Sam, her boyfriend, following them in his truck. False alarm… So the gang decides to give the Haunted House a chance and on their way they go.
Right from the start things ‘look’ intense which only ignites the excitement of the friends, so when they arrive to a Safe and Not Safe zone they pay no mind and decide to split. Big mistake, for both teams. You see, the whole experience is a trap and they are about to get hunted by the owners who happen to be a bunch of sadistic, murderous, body-modification enthusiast. Yep, you read that last part right, they all have adorned (disfigured?) their faces and are so very proud of them that they cover them with vintage Halloween masks all the time (makes sense).
I am going to skip all the juicy details about all the kills since I believe they spoke by themselves (SO GOOD!), but all I will say is this, they would not have been so successful on their delivery had they not taken place inside that warehouse/amateur-looking haunted house. The fact that some of the rooms looked like something you could find at your own town, made by your weird neighbor from down the street, really brought it home and added a layer of plausibility to the disgusting, gory things you saw the friends go thru.
Right, but getting back to Harper, little by little we learn about her complex psyche and kind of see why she allows herself be abused by men. Life is complicated and so is she. But she is also strong and a fighter and pushes forward no matter what.
Harper has a major flashback in one of the rooms and the way she dealt with it was so satisfying to watch:
Our Harper is not a little girl anymore. After all was said and done she showed us that with patience, determination, and a little help from a bunch of crazed maniacs, we all can gather enough strength to get to the other side of whatever stale mental prisons we thought we belonged in. Go forth.
In Love and Fear,
-Marath
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