Movie Review: House of Fears

credit: House of Fears

If you’ve seen one type of horror movie, then you’ve seen them all, right? A lot of people would argue for or against this, but while House of Fears might sound like something cheesy and corny that’s been done a few times before, it does offer up a plot that’s definitely lacking in development but is still enough to get people to watch from start to finish.

The opening to the movie has to do with an excavation that sheds very little light on the movie save to make people understand that a group of excavators, perhaps treasure seekers, have uncovered a ghastly-looking statue (hello Exorcist vibes) that makes them all go crazy. When a guide a woman that is apparently looking for something arrives at the site, the guide quickly exits when he finds the dead bodies of the workers, while the woman grabs the statue before they both leave.

The movie then cuts to Samantha and Hailey, step-sisters who obviously don’t get along since Hailey is entirely self-absorbed and resents Samantha and her mother. When Hailey is caught sneaking out to a party, she’s forced to have her father drive her and Samantha to the party, and things kind of go from there. 

credit: House of Fears

Let’s say it, Zane is a horrible employee. 

The group of Zane, Carter, Hailey, Samantha, Devon, and Candice make their way to the House of Fear, where Zane is set to work when it opens, and already it’s established that Zane is a jerk and a horrible employee if he allows friends into the place simply because he has the keys.

Seeing as how Zane is the first to go after the reveal of the statue from the beginning and the exposition concerning the deepest fears of humanity, it feels justified since karma in horror movies is nothing to mess with. But as the others take note that they’re being stalked by something throughout the exhibit, one might think that it would be easy to find the exit and head out.

Of course, this is hardly ever the case in a horror movie, so after Zane’s death, the others start making their way through the other rooms in an attempt to find the exit. 

It’s not much of a surprise that Samantha and Carter are so easy to like. 

After hearing what each of the teens fear, it’s not too hard to think of how they’re going to die, but Candice’s death by suffocation is interesting as she’s locked into the mummy room as sand begins to pour into the chamber, filling it roughly halfway as she screams for help. Before Devon and Carter can get the door open, however, Candice is dragged beneath the sand by mummified hands, thereby suffocating as the others are too late to save her.

While Devon doesn’t really reveal what he’s terrified of, his trip through the clown room makes it clear that he’s afraid of what many other adults are afraid of, and it’s not too long before the clowns come to life and start tormenting Devon before snatching him away.

Samantha’s fear of scarecrows makes another exhibit come to life, and while doing battle with the creature, Carter is electrocuted along with the scarecrow. Of course, the scarecrow then takes after the other two survivors, Hailey and Samantha. It’s almost like an interactive chapter book at one point since one almost expects a list of options to pop up on the screen to guide the characters in one direction or another. 

credit: House of Fears

Trying to not be afraid so that your fears won’t kill you could be tough.

When it’s established that whatever the teens are afraid of is what’s going to come to life and kill them somehow, it’s a bit too late since the scarecrow is up and moving and pushing through doors like a straw-filled juggernaut. After a chase through the building, Samantha is cornered, and while being choked out by the scarecrow, she states that she’s no longer afraid of it and drops the statue that is apparently giving the exhibits the power to move about. Once the statue is broken, the scarecrow falls lifeless to the floor. That’s it, nothing else. Yeah, it’s a little anticlimactic. 

It feels as though Hailey got off a bit light, but oh well. 

She did get captured, dragged through the building, and then shut in a coffin, which played to her fear of being in confined spaces. But once Samantha rescued her and dispatched her attacker, that was the extent of what would happen to Hailey. She was terrified and assaulted, but next to what happened to the others, she definitely got off light. But that’s kind of how things go in a horror movie, so oh well.