Creeptober Day 29: The Houses October Built (2014)
The Houses October Built shows us that getting scared can be fun, but you should always make sure you know what you’re getting into!
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For day twenty-nine of Creeptober, we’re taking another trip to a haunted house attraction. This time, the creeps are all too human. The Houses October Built is unsettling in how it uses real haunts before it gets into the idea of a secret haunt that gives attendees an experience they won’t forget for the rest of their lives.
Read on for our thoughts on The Houses October Built (2014) as well as a recap of the movie, and join the conversation on our Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram!
Reacting to The Houses October Built
I’m not the biggest fan of haunted house attractions. I’ve certainly had amazing times at haunts, but that’s because of the friends and family I was with rather than the haunt itself. Something about giving strangers the permission and the power to scare me just feels weird. I totally get why people enjoy haunts, and I love the aesthetic of them, but the creepy factor of the interpersonal exchanges just isn’t for me. All of those feelings could be why I enjoy The Houses October Built so much.
Frankly, taking a road trip with friends to visit spooky locations in the days leading up to Halloween sounds amazing. That’s something I could see myself doing (though I’d probably opt for actual haunted locations rather than haunt attractions populated by actors). In this scenario I would probably be a lot like Brandy in the movie: cautiously optimistic, but wary of getting into something too extreme.
The point I’m trying to make is that The Houses October Built feels very realistic to me. In fact, I know the movie uses real haunts because I’ve been to one of the locations they use. Of course, the plot veers into the unbelievable as the group gets deeper into their search for the Blue Skeleton, but the slow progression from real haunts to implausible predicaments is what makes the movie work as well as it does. Even some of the more far-fetched ideas (like the Blue Skeleton people following them from the start) work because the movie establishes a realistic foundation before delving too deep into the more wild ideas.
Using the found footage format also helps brush away some of the unbelievability. The Houses October Built uses the format to set a mood, and it uses it to hide plot points that might come across as contrived. For instance, during the scene when the friends are wandering through Bourbon Street, Jeff becomes separated from the group. We don’t see how he becomes lost, he just is. He’s with them, then in the next shot he isn’t. The sudden jumps through time inherent to the found footage format make sense because the camera can stop and start at any time, but in a more traditional narrative format the missing time could be distracting. In a way, it reminds me of Robert Rodriguez using “missing reels” in Planet Terror (2007) to completely skip major plot points and change the direction of the movie without explaining anything. Planet Terror does it for comedic effect, and The Houses October Built uses it to keep the pace up while getting to the spooky stuff quicker, but the ideas are vaguely similar. I think it’s smart.
I also just find the idea of a secret haunt unsettling. I’ve seen a documentary on the infamous McKamey Manor where people sign up for what is essentially torture, and where people have made claims of being taken advantage of beyond what they signed up for. So I could see how something similar to Blue Skeleton could potentially exist. I do think The Houses October Built could have leaned ever further into the extreme nature of an off-the-grid haunt. The final scenes aren’t as brutal as some of the real-life footage I’ve seen from things like McKamey Manor, but getting too brutal in this movie would definitely change the way it’s viewed. The Houses October Built is more unsettling and spooky than it is brutal and terrifying, and for a fun viewing experience during the Halloween season, it works well.
The Houses October Built – A Recap
The movie begins as a mini pseudo-documentary about haunted house attractions. We are told that “pressure to deliver the most extreme experiences imaginable has led to a dramatic increase in accidents, injuries, and crimes.” We are then shown a picture of five friends who, during a road trip in 2013, shot the footage we are about to see.
The found-footage begins with an unconscious woman locked inside the trunk of a car. Flashing back to six days earlier, we meet five friends: Zack, Brandy, Mike, Bobby, and Jeff. They are on a road trip across America to visit and document the most extreme haunts. Zack in particular wants to find the most brutally terrifying haunted house attraction.
Five days until Halloween, the trip begins. The friends visit their first haunt that night, but Zack doesn’t seem too impressed. Mike has some fun by climbing on the haunt’s roof, but that gets him and his friends in trouble with a couple of staff members dressed like clowns. As the friends leave, one of the clowns blocks the path of their vehicle. As the clown continues to silently stare, they manage to turn past him and drive away.
Four days until Halloween, the group finds a place to park their RV. While sitting around a fire, they meet a local who works at a nearby haunt. He’s very quiet and kind of creepy. Later, the group participates in a zombie paintball run. While there, a spooky clown can be seen watching them. As they drive away, they see a woman dressed as a doll standing in a field. They saw the same woman at the haunt the previous day. Mike goes out to talk to her, but she says nothing. Instead, she follows Mike into the RV, screams, then leaves.
Three days until Halloween, Zack talks about a secret haunt he wants to find. The haunt moves around to different cities, and it is known only by a name that includes the word “Blue.” The haunt they go to that night is scarier than the first, and the actors inside use Brandy’s name.
Two days until Halloween, the friends go to a strip club where they can record footage, and they go to a haunt that bans cameras. Afterward, Zack gets information about a secret haunt called “Blue Skeleton” in Louisiana. That night, someone sneaks into the RV and records the friends while they sleep.
One day until Halloween, Zack finds the footage of him and his friends sleeping posted on a haunt chat room. He shows Bobby, and they decide to not tell anyone about it. Then they find what looks like a heart in their RV’s refrigerator. In the evening, they follow instructions which are supposed to lead to Blue Skeleton. While in a bar where they’re supposed to meet someone named Mr. Giggles, Brandy is cornered in a bathroom by three men. She gets away, but Zack’s friends think their trip is getting out of hand. While the RV is parked that night, the vehicle is surrounded by people dressed as haunt actors. Then the people all disappear.
On Halloween morning, Zack finds a pumpkin outside the RV. Inside the pumpkin is a letter with a location. Four of the friends are spooked, but Zack insists they all go to find Blue Skeleton. Jeff gets separated from the group and abducted. The rest of the group drives to a location left on Jeff’s voicemail, and they are all captured and taken away on a bus. Everyone is separated and instructed to film everything they see. After they each go through their own haunt, they are abducted once again. Everyone except Jeff (who hasn’t been seen since he was first taken) is buried alive. The end.
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