As a screenwriting exercise, imagine the story if the reporters went to a house and didn't know who the resident (even in a previous home) had been, just that it was haunted.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
"8213: Gacy House": this horror concept doesn't work when you already know the backstory
A “journalism horror movie” can be interesting if the amateur
sleuths go into something that I s a real mystery. This was the case with some late 90s
microbudget films like “The Blair Witch Project” and “The Last Broadcast”.
But camping out in a haunted house is, by definition, less suspenseful. You know the guys and gays are going to “get
it”. And the idea of connecting the
house to a notorious serial killer seems a bit tacky at best.
“8213: Gacy House” refers to the home rebuilt in 1979 (near
Chicago) after the horror house of John Wayne Gacy was demolished. Gacy would be executed in 1994, and the
rebuilt house would be abandoned in 2006. (Take the “c” out of the name when
typing; the result is not nice.)
So some partygoers decide it would be fun to camp out in the
house and see if the ghost of the perpetrator still prevails. The
script lines calling out to him seem a bit offensive. The film becomes a mockery of the “Paranormal
Activity” movies, with a lot of self-reference (through blurred black-and-white
videocams) thrown in.
The film sets up an envelope for itself, with police
blotters claiming that the “journalists” all died in the house. I presume that this is all made up. Nevertheless, the DVD offers a “feature” and
a “documentary” about the “party”. The
documentary claims that at least one of the Gacy victim families has sued the
filmmakers for emotional distress.
The very end is reasonably well done. At least one of the
make characters gets it, losing his trousers as he his dragged up into a
nethweworld.
As a screenwriting exercise, imagine the story if the reporters went to a house and didn't know who the resident (even in a previous home) had been, just that it was haunted.
As a screenwriting exercise, imagine the story if the reporters went to a house and didn't know who the resident (even in a previous home) had been, just that it was haunted.
The film (from The Asylum, 2010) is directed by Anthony
Frankhauser.
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