The Scarehouse (2014) User Reviews

Unlikeable Characters, Stale Story, Awful Soundtrack

[HorrorOverEverything · 3/10 · 15 January 2015]

*Review Contains Light Spoilers But Nothing That Will Ruin The Film*

I'll start off by saying I have nothing to do with this film at all. I'm not from the cast or crew and it wasn't shot in my hometown. It's very obvious that 90% of the reviews for this film so far are fake, so just getting out of the way that I am simply a movie watcher who went into this with an open mind.

So with that said I just have to say this was a pretty bad movie. Right from the beginning I was tempted to shut it off, the cast was just so annoying it made it really hard to continue, but I sucked it up and decided to finish the movie. Once the ball gets rolling we realize that this is a tale of revenge, two sorority girls getting back at their sisters for something unknown to us at this point. It's an alright idea, but the execution was awful.

The girls stage a haunted house in order to play out their revenge on their sisters, the only thing is that the two girls and the rest of the cast were extremely unlikeable. There really is no one at all to root for in the movie, every single character is really a bad person at their core so you kinda just want everyone to get killed. We are treated to A LOT of dialogue between the cast and this is where the movie got really bad, why would we want to see a bunch of unlikeable people have drawn out conversations about things we don't care about?

So then the killing starts, which is one of the slightly positive things I can say about this film, there are one or two good kill scenes. But that's it, with all these victims they could have at least gone the route of taking them out in gory ways, but instead we get one or two decent kills and the rest are fairly tame or done off screen.

Also the soundtrack it definitely worth mentioning, because it is so bad. I was tempted to mute my TV on a few parts so that I wouldn't have to listen to these awful generic party songs.

Overall this movie is just a big mess. The one thing they did do really well at was making an hour and twenty minutes feel like an eternity. Ignore the fake reviews and skip the one, you are better off watching Sorority Row or one of the other many all female cast horror movies that did the concept MUCH better than "The Scarehouse"

nothing scary at all

[trashgang · 4/10 · 16 November 2016]

What could have been a nasty revenge flick taking place at a scarehouse sadly turns in a flick with nothing really scary to see and when the horror should come in the editing fades to black.

With fading to black it's up to the illusion of the viewer to think how bad the victims are getting their punishment but of course that doesn't work. There are also faults in editing on part of close-ups but hey, let's stick to the flick.

The only good thing is that slowly the flick shows why those two girls are getting revenge against their friends. But overall the flick is lame. each girl who needs to be punished comes alone to the scarehouse and one by one, really?

A perfect example how a low budget can go wrong. But luckily for the production, it's still watchable.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1,5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Not Convincing Story-side

[Tweetienator · 5/10 · 9 October 2016]

Scarehouse shows some potential but the director/writer messed the story up - I had especially trouble to connect to the motivations of the killer-duo: You let yourself talk into doing some bullshit (drugging the guy) and on top your are too dumb to check that he's in such a bad condition that he is about to die!? And you blame the other girls for your dumbness!? And you don't only want to kill them but you even need to torture them in most horrible ways only a pevert can imagine!? I guess the movie-makers realized how weak the motivation (some years in prison and a bad reputation) is for such a doing and added the suicide of one mother, but anyway, imo anything but convincing. ***BIG SPOILERs*** But the director/writer even messed the end up: If both the killer girls would have hanged themselves we would have got some kind of poetical suicide in the end, but instead one of the girls betrays the other and this is done so dumb - stabbing herself and leaving the fingerprints on the knife will not help much. Both girls left fingerprints and other evidences on the whole scare-house and on the victims, so how the f*** she thinks she would have the slightest chance to get away with from being jailed for lifetime or riding the electrical chair!?

So what's left to say!? Scarehouse is no disaster but could have been much better with some more care story-side. An one-timer for the connoisseur of revenge horror movies. The gore level I would call rather low, so this is imo no torture porn (but "highlights" are some of those I admit creative torture/kill scenes).

Terrible .......

[english_artist · 1/10 · 15 January 2015]

I don't mind watching the odd horror movie which has you on the edge of your seat with a decent story and great acting. (or even average acting) This has none of them, its like something a bunch of kids would make with gore for the sake of it and silly cheap thrills like young girls half naked messing around in a room it has absolutely no suspense or story nothing keeps you gripped to the screen to see what happens next. I actually started to fast forward the movie in places hoping things would improve..... but they did not.

If you gave a camera and some fake blood to a teenage and told him to go and make a horror movie this is what he would come up with

Don't believe the reviews

[rich-the-mitch · 1/10 · 18 January 2015]

How on earth this has been rated so highly i have no idea. Like other bad reviews of the film have stated, I've got a feeling the higher score were written by people involved with the film.

The film was so god awful I felt compelled to open an IMDb account to review it.

It really was the worst film I've ever seen.

I don't really care that the acting is rubbish, but there is nothing, absolutely nothing good to say about this film.

I stuck with it till the end, out of sheer determination, why I don't know, I should have done some hoovering instead.

One review said the ending left it open for a sequel. It doesn't and thank god for that.

The real scare is watching this movie

[reptar300 · 1/10 · 26 January 2015]

Just by watching the trailer you can get a good idea of what this movie is going to be about. I am a big horror buff, and I enjoy even the worst B-rated horror movies. Scarehouse is definitely in that category, but it takes a swing and misses on many aspects that other B-rated movies do well.

Let me say this before continuing. Horror movies lately have rarely ever made me truly feel a moment of dread, but they typically have a story you can roll your eyes at, but The Scarehouse is painful to watch even for the strongest movie buff.

I wont give a synopsis since you can read it on IMDb, but I will say that it's a petty story of revenge. The movie looks like it was done on a budget, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The setting fits very well for the direction the story wanted to go in. I did enjoy that there were no moments when I couldn't see what was happening and there are never any moments that purposely attempt to make you jump. That is about the only place this movie shines at. The acting honestly is not bad. All the actress did a believable job for a horror movie of this class, but the short roles of the male actors felt unrehearsed and thrown together to quickly.

The problem with this movie is its terrible story telling. You are given bits and pieces of past events through out the movie, and by time the climax comes it still doesn't feel like any of the actions are justified even slightly. The whole movie plays out like an emotional teenagers diary. I usually don't mind revenge tales, but this one just didn't pull me in.

FINAL VERDICT: For a horror movie the lead actresses are the only reason you may stay. The performance is not Oscar worthy, but I did not find myself hating it. The story is poorly done and ruins any possible chance of enjoying this movie. Mixed with torture and a late climax you're better off watching paint dry for the evening.

Some parts good, others poor

[blarvinkx · 6/10 · 24 July 2019]

Everyone saying this is the worst movie are exaggerating a lot, it's good for a teenage petty drama slasher film and I enjoyed the overall plot and the acting. But everyone knows it's a made for TV type of late night film. Never expected it to be oscar worthy. I'd honestly recommend it to people who like gory movies or psychological gory horror flicks. Also the ending was a bit of a cool twist though not super shocking, still was more interesting than I assumed it would end.

Non-scary revenge

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 9 June 2018]

'The Scarehouse' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an slightly intriguing but very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'The Scarehouse' is terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is next to nothing to recommend and it is a complete un-scary experience.

Lets start with the sole positive. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky.

Unfortunately, it is not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm.

Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.

Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both dreadfully done. Not to mention a whole novel's worth of inconsistencies and continuity errors.

A lot of 'The Scarehouse' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending makes the film finish on an incomplete and confused whimper.

There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative, very repetitive and more odd than creepy, completely failing to show any sense of horror and resorting to cheap typical horror tropes. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, inexperience seems to be all over the film, and the music doesn't really fit.

Concluding, near-irredeemably awful. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Pretty damn good

[debcarlsen-01078 · 9/10 · 22 May 2020]

Quite the twisted tell for those that like psychological juggernauts. Some parts were predictable but just enjoy the ride, the journey is the best part!

Not Bad But Could've Been Better

[brandonleeburns · 6/10 · 21 April 2020]

It's a good concept for a movie. 2 sorority rushes get sent to prison for 2 years after they are pressured to partake in a sorority prank turned deadly and the girls who put them up to it get off without even a slap on the wrist. These two rushes get out of prison and begin killing the girls who got them sent there. Sounds good to me, but it could have been done better. The Scarehouse isn't a bad movie but it's nothing special. It's definitely worth watching once but I don't think I'm coming back for seconds.

This was actual worst.

[sellguyyou · 1/10 · 20 January 2015]

This movie was worst. I was looking forward to this movie. Was disappointed . The movies lost the plot, was poorly written and directed. Cool judo Lisa was the best part of the movie. This movie was a poor representation of females. I really couldn't get behind this movie, the character were not realistic at all, I just wanted it to end . This is trying to be a gore fest chick killer flick, it's not. It was trying to be too much and ending up coming up short. There are much better movies out there, don't waste your time.

No substance, no class .

Would have thought better from Windsor .

I genuinely hate that I watched this movie

[chasingimmersion · 1/10 · 20 February 2016]

I love horror movies. I also love bad horror movies. I love jump scares, gore, mind games, torture porn, naked chicks and people getting there comeuppances. I love campy dialogue, lame puns, clever innuendos and over-the-top revenge monologues. One thing I cannot abide, however, is bad writing.

The Scarehouse has a terrible script with glaringly atrocious dialogue that forces the poor actors into flip-flopping over which emotion they're supposed to emote harder than Hillary flip-flops on her policy stances (ay-o! #feelthebern). The fact that this movie was written, directed AND even EDITED by the same person probably explains a lot of the problems this movie encountered.

There is nothing redeeming about this movie. The entire time you're left asking yourself, "Why is this happening? Why is she scared now - she is killing them! We're crying now? Oh, no, we're scared again. Wait, nope, back to emotionless psychopath mode. Oh, never mind... Who's that? Nevermind, she's dead now..."

There's no reason to care for a single character that flails about on screen, and the characters your ultimately supposed to side with are probably the least likable. Still, your disdain for these two doesn't diminish your level of apathy for any of their victims (not a spoiler, the killers are revealed almost as an introduction to the film).

The choices some of these characters makes. There's no suspense in being forced to hold a running hair dryer over your head while soaking in a bathtub if you can just, I don't know, rest your elbows on the sides? Or even hang your arms outside the tub??? Also, in a 5 foot room why do you need to step closer to someone your pointing a gun at just to be precariously lined up with said bathtub? But never mind, because she isn't pushed in the tub and electrocuted, no no - she's just tackled to the ground (whereafter she just gets up and kicks the crap out of the attacker just like she had in every other scene she was in up until that point). Don't get me started on the TV death scene. Just don't. I need to stop before I think anymore about the pillow-fight scene (not even campy, just... stop).

But the gore... honestly... it was so bad. Basically the camera just cuts away when something gory would have happened, then cuts back after reaction takes to a glimpse of the results (the eyelash scene was especially weak).

I've already wasted too much of my life on this movie. I don't need to waste anymore of it on this review.

Don't waste your time with this movie. Don't believe the positive reviews. I wouldn't even watch it again to critique it for money.

I hope another movie like this is never made again.

Has some moments - Meh otherwise

[bdl7431 · 4/10 · 21 July 2019]

The Scarehouse - Well, it has its moments - otherwise....meh.

SPOLIER ALERT

Two girls - Corey and Elaina - are pledging a small sorority - 6 girls total. As part of the selection/initiation process, Corey and Eliana have to drug some guy named Brandon and then take selfies with the guy and post them on social media. Whoever gets the most likes gets into the sorority. Unfortunately, the guy chokes on his own vomit while unconscious and dies. Corey and Eliana are sent to jail for involuntary manslaughter. The sorority girls concoct a story to keep them free of responsibility and punishment. The movie bulk is Corey and Eliana torturing and killing the six sorority girls for revenge.

There are several obvious issues with the film. Some can be overlooked like it is obviously low budget and the actresses playing the girls seem a bit old for college students. There are obvious continuity errors - one particularly noticeable one is when Corey blows a party horn in the face of one of the sorority sisters - Katrina - when she is tied up - Corey puts the horn down - but in the next scene, which is shot at a different angle, Corey has the party horn again. The plot has several holes in it - like why would the crime get so much news coverage - including when Corey and Eliana get out of jail. And what crime would the remaining sorority girls be charged with?

The bigger holes are basic script flaws. First, with one exception, the sorority girls aren't really evil enough to deserve death. One of the deaths seem stupid and unimaginative - like two sorority girls being forced to fight to the death using pillows filled with some kind of powdered acid. And the sorority president - named Jacqueline - is a full blown evangelical Christian who starts quoting the Bible when she is being tortured - actually put on a sort of trial by Elaina and Corey - but why would such a girl be a president of a sorority with a bunch of hedonistic girls, let alone being in the sorority to begin with?

One of the biggest plot holes is with Corey - throughout the entire film she comes across as being a completely hard, only worried about winning - including the backstory/flashback scenes that tell what happened the night which eventually lead to Brandon being drugged and dying - EXCEPT when they are outside Brandon's apartment/dorm room - when Corey starts saying "THIS IS A BAD IDEA - WE COULD GO TO JAIL" - which makes no sense for the character. And - warning - BIG spoiler here - Eliana and Corey have a suicide pact at the end - they hang themselves - but Corey has rigged her rope so it breaks/releases - so while Eliana strangles to death, Corey makes it look like Eliana stabbed her - so she lives. Corey somehow makes Elaina responsible for getting her into this situation - Eliana is an awkward person throughout the film, and for Eliana to suddenly find courage while Corey chickens out seems weird.

Indeed, the only scenes I find compelling are the ones with Corey, Eliana and Katrina - one of the girls who is being tortured and killed. Katrina oscillates between defiant and begging for forgiveness - and she seems to be the only one who really deserves punishment. The dialogue in these scenes is pretty good and the acting supports the dialogue. Otherwise, some of the "crimes" the other girls committed seem to been not talking to Corey and Eliana while they were in jail - poor, to be sure - but hardly deserving of death. Some of the dialogue between Cory and Eliana is interesting as well. The Eliana character is actually interesting - she is obviously a bit awkward and flawed, but she has regret on the killings.

There is also an element of the 7 Deadly Sins in this - one girl is anorexic, one is gluttonous, one is promiscuous, one lies a lot apparently.

Oh - if the Corey character seems like she has been given too much in the film. The actress - Sarah Booth - cowrote the film with her husband - who also directed. So.....worth a watch - once - maybe - several of the clips are available on the web and you'll get the basic idea, and the full movie can be streamed - so.......

Pure garbage

[draftdubya · 1/10 · 17 October 2017]

It's more entertaining to watch a monkey eat its turds than watch this. I found this crap on Showtime. Showtime and Canada should be ashamed of even being involved in this mess. The story line is so dumb you just won't care who dies. Stupid story of revenge for something so petty. I'm as liberal as can be, but I had to smack the side of my face because, my eyes rolled to the back of my head when they said "Red State"(These people are from farking Canada). That ending was just as stupid. I wonder if the police don't take criminal's prints in Canada, because it's NO way any of them would get away with it.

You're going to have to constantly hit the mute button

Canadian cheapie

[Leofwine_draca · 1/10 · 6 April 2018]

This Canadian cheapie is an indie horror flick about six college girls who head off to a Halloween funhouse for some spooky time, only to find themselves menaced by true evil. Yep, it's another bog-standard production that's endlessly padded out with random chit chat and boring characterisation, one of the worst films I can remember seeing in a long time. The girls hang out all the while and deliver their lines in a boring way while there's very little in the way of plot development or indeed horror.

ambitious amateur theater.

[tomsters · 7/10 · 23 May 2019]

I liked this movie. it was obvious not a big budget flick. but it was well thought out and nicely filmed. it did take a bit to figure out the flashbacks vs current day differences but after that i had no problems with it. i was entertained. im absolutely sure those who have put this movie down and rated it around the 1 star range, are the same types i see when i go to youtube and ebaums type video sites just to trash whatever video is being featured. its one thing to have corp execs give 10/10 fake reviews, its worse when someone rates it 1/10 just to be a cyber bully. this was not big budget poltergeist/saw etc, but it was a good fun well made movie.

Low budget junk

[Wizard-8 · 30 July 2017]

"The Scarehouse" is yet another example as to what is wrong with the Canadian film industry. The biggest reason as to why the movie fails can be seen in its credits. The person who is given credit for the direction (Gavin Michael Booth) not only directed the movie, he is given credit for the script, editing, and as one of the movie's producers. The Canadian government loves to fund movie projects by "auteurs", even though there are very few people in the Canadian film industry (or film industries in other countries, for that matter) that can successfully take on more that one role on the production of a movie. Obviously, there was really no one on board this movie project that could interfere with Booth's vision, and as a result, this movie fails like so many vanity productions. The characters in the movie are all repulsive, the narrative is garbled, and the production values (such as with bargain basement cinematography and lighting) are absolutely rock bottom... among many other problems. While I'm glad that the Canadian government is starting to fund more commercial movies instead of just art house dramas, they still don't seem to understand that the bulk of the movies they are choosing to fund (regardless of genre) simply are doomed to failure because they are badly conceived vanity projects. Unless the Canadian government changes their policy, Canadians will continue to ignore their filmmakers' films.

Colossal waste of time

[bangel3322 · 1/10 · 29 July 2020]

The short and sweet of it:

Decent storyline that could have been lined with more twists, absolutely destroyed by bad writing and even worse acting.

Solid Halloween-based revenge torture

[gressman07 · 8/10 · 18 October 2019]

Honestly at a loss to all the 1 star reviews, to say the least. I prefer to start any movie with default/neutral 5 and go from there, and have never dropped below 3 (for House of Fears, an utterly lifeless Halloween flick that somehow rates higher than this...)

I've seen plenty of Halloween-based flicks and this is definitely on the upper range, with most being passable 5s or slightly positive 6. I'd rate this 8 along with Rob Zombies Halloween (Carpenter original getting 10).

It is essentially torture porn as two girls enact a plan of torture kill revenge. Some of the scenes become quite uncomfortable, but I can't see this being any worse than Saw, which has a much higher rating? Granted their justification for such, revealed slowly throughout, is arguably weak compared to what is likely an overkill of revenge. In any event, it's just a movie, they were wronged but by varying degrees amongst their victims, and 2 years in jail didn't seem to help their state of mind.

The film is what it is, and it does what it does with a certain stylish quality. The performances were solid all around, there are some nice Halloween-styled visuals, and the quality of film and music were above average for most Halloween films (granted the more modern ones have all seemingly reached a rather consistent tone here).

If the trailer strikes your fancy, you'll probably enjoy it. Another review very apt in "Mean Girls meets Saw." Reminded me of a behind the scenes/inverted take on Scream or Scream 2 in which we follow instead the killers point of view of events. Strangely enough it also felt at times like an alternative "Ginger Snaps" sequel in which the two sisters have averted lycan encounters and matured their outcast duet into a Halloween murder house (the one looks very much like the dark haired sis, and the other is even Ginger-esque and more often is the one pushing their plans moral boundaries).

Way better than expected...

[continuousmixes · 7/10 · 16 January 2015]

This is one of those movies you need to see without seeing the trailer, reading the reviews, getting Intel on the production etc etc.. One thing a reviewer said on here was that it was too graphic, i disagree. This horror movie lover has probably avoided Hostel and Saw. Watching the (misleading) trailer for this movie, i expected some kind of gritty torture porn film that would wear you out and make you want to watch Spongebob for the next couple hours. i was pleasantly surprised when i found out this isn't the case. Revenge movies have to be my favorite sub-genre for horror films. Theirs always an explanation for it all, a key element most horror films are missing. That being said I'm not a picky movie goer and even if you are i think this movie would still be enjoyable. Couple things that weren't so great about this film: I overlooked the dialog because I found it trying too hard to be witty, it came off cheesy and those girls were the only ones laughing. Another thing was the character development, although the actions are clear i had a hard time figuring out which girl was which, because you only see them on a video camera and when they reunite 2 years later with different hairstyles. Last thing was the actual scare house, i thought their wasn't enough of it. i would have loved to see a little bit more done with it, the film is after all titled off it. particularly a scene where Cory sticks her hand through a hole to trip one of the guests at the haunted house, it would have been smart to trip a terrified victim running down that hall. Overall its not the 'worst' movie ever, i happen to be a fan of sorority row and martyrs, so i think this movies right down that alley. this movie is not for the faint of heart, but for dark comedy lovers and gory torture scenes we haven't gotten in awhile

Clever (not)

[kosmasp · 2/10 · 18 June 2020]

You could just file this under "torture porn". You could on the other hand try to acknowledge what it tries to do too. Put a revenge story to the test, with timelines overlapping. It should be clear early on, where this is leading and what the two main characters have on their mind.

The main thing is, that there are not really likeable characters here. Maybe one, where even our "heroines" say, that they thought she was cool. Still seeing people going through the stuff they do ... not to mention how convenient they seem to appear, with one surprise guest just showing up. With more flaws than any cheese you have stumbled upon ... there is quite a lot wrong here. And even a twist towards the end will not really elevate it on a much higher level

Garbage

[devinbrown-19091 · 1/10 · 1 September 2019]

Anything saying 10 star is paid.its utter garbage, no reason for anything and makes no sense.

Literally the worst movie!!

[minbaker · 1/10 · 6 April 2019]

The plot is terrible, the acting is terrible, the whole movie is terrible! Weak reasoning for revenge! Just stay wat from this movie

Boring

[cannibalcorpse-23503 · 1/10 · 5 July 2020]

An absolutely boring film, there is nothing positive here

OK, it's time to implement licencing for moviemakers!

[Angry_Santa · 1/10 · 13 April 2020]

You need a licence to drive a car to prove that you know how to operate one and that you understand the road rules.

It's high time then that licencing be implemented for moviemakers - those without a licence and with utterly no knowledge of what they're supposed to be doing will create crap like this abomination, wreaking untold (potentially permanent) damage to people's psyches!

Remember, just because you have the money to make a movie, doesn't mean you should go ahead and do it.