A Haunted House (2013)


REVIEWER RATING: 
4/10


With the success of the Paranormal Activity films and the recent surge of exorcism flicks we've naturally received a flood of copycats and spoofs along the way, many of which have been rather subpar in many aspects. It was only a matter of time before we got a slightly different and comedic take on the haunted house sub-genre. In this case it's with a primarily black cast of characters and how they'd react in the same situation that many of these white folks seem to find themselves in. Thus, we have A Haunted House, which brings Marlon Wayans back into the horror spoof fold after the first two Scary Movies.

Unlike the Scary Movie efforts where they barely had a story and relied mostly on shitty pop culture references and parodies of modern movies, this flick focused specifically on a young couple and the supernatural encounters in their new home. Since the movie is more compacted and centered on one theme, it worked a little better than those horrible spoof efforts we've received in the past. That isn't to say that this is a good movie, because it isn't, but it does work better in comparison and I actually laughed a few times at some of the scenes.

Actually the "scenes" in the movie are more like skits, as each one would lead into another and another, like what if the ghost had sex with the woman and she liked it and started cheating on her man with the ghost or one skit that showed how a group of hardcore thugs would react to a supernatural encounter or how a half-assed ghetto priest would handle a possessed girl, etc.. Each scene was essentially a setup for a new skit, much of which seemed fairly improvised on the spot. Naturally some of this works, while most doesn't, but humor is subjective, so while I didn't find this to be a very good or funny movie, a lot of other people did, which resulted in its moderate success at the box office.  A sequel is also being fast-tracked with a release set for next year, so obviously they're doing something right.

Although A Haunted House is one of the better modern genre spoofs, it's still far from a good movie. However, humor is subjective and while I may have only laughed at a few of the jokes in the film, I'm sure others will find it completely hilarious. Naturally if you're a fan of these types of flicks then chances are you'll dig this, otherwise I'd recommend just steering clear.
OVERALL: 
Although A Haunted House is one of the better modern genre spoofs, it's still far from a good movie. However, humor is subjective and while I may have only laughed at a few of the jokes in the film, I'm sure others will find it completely hilarious. Naturally if you're a fan of these types of flicks then chances are you'll dig this, otherwise I'd recommend just steering clear.


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