Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Jake Jarvi
Starring: Rob Scallon, Craig Benzine, Stephen Kristof, Jeremy Warner, Katelin
Stack, Adam Hinkle
Many low budget movies have been made because the filmmakers had access to
a great location and developed a story around the setting. I don't know if
that was the case for writer/director Jake Jarvi's
Haunt Season, which was shot in and around a working haunted attraction in America's
Midwest during the Halloween season. Regardless of whether the setting
birthed the script or vice versa, Jarvi takes advantage of this great
location, which includes a haunted house and adjacent mini golf course,
amusement arcade, escape rooms and a bar, all of which work their way into
the plot.
We open in the haunted house, where the performers have come to the end of
a shift just a couple of days before the big night of Halloween itself.
Having spent her shift pretending to be scalped, Taylor (Ana Dragovich) is the last to leave the unconventional workplace. Well actually, she
doesn't get to leave at all as she's attacked by a masked maniac who only
goes and...you guessed it, scalps her for real!
When Taylor fails to show up for work the next day, attraction manager
Bradford (Stephen Kristof) quickly finds a replacement in Matilda (Sarah Elizabeth). Having finished acting school, Matilda finds herself in a limbo, out of
work and sleeping in her car. Though it's only going to last a few nights,
Matilda throws herself into her new job and bonds with her co-workers.
Meanwhile the masked killer continues to claim victims, marking each of them
with a bloody thumbprint prior to offing them in a manner that mimics their
role in the haunted attraction.
As a slasher movie, Haunt Season is rather run of the mill.
The whodunit element of who is behind the killer's mask is never leaned into
heavily enough for the audience to give it much thought, and when the
killer's identity is eventually revealed it feels like their name was picked
out of a hat as the movie hasn't laid any crumbs that might lead us to
suspect them or anyone else. The low budget is betrayed by
Haunt Season's need to keep its gore largely offscreen, though there is an effective
Grand Guignol moment late on involving a hole in someone's stomach.
Haunt Season is surprisingly more effective as a chilled out
character drama. It divides its time between its night sequences, when the
killer does their stuff, and daytime, when we get to hang out with the
performers. The latter scenes are reminiscent of '90s indies like
Dazed and Confused and Clerks, as the young characters enjoy their time while also discussing their
apprehensions regarding their uncertain future. Matilda knows she probably
has to leave the Midwest and head to Los Angeles to pursue her career, but
it's a giant leap she's scared of taking, and her new co-workers have
similar anxieties. The young cast make their characters likeable and
relatable, and Haunt Season nails the camaraderie that
develops when a group of individuals who previously believed they were
outsiders finally find their tribe. Jarvi explores the appeal of performing
in a haunted attraction, and acting and filmmaking in general, as his young
leads discuss the thrill of being able to adopt an alternative persona;
unlike their messy real lives, they're in control of the characters they
inhabit in the attraction. The comradeship we witness backstage isn't unlike
that you'll find on the set of an indie production like
Haunt Season. Jarvi's film has a melancholy last-day-of-summer quality, with Samhain
standing in for summer here.
Haunt Season also stands out from most low budget slashers
with the colourful palette created by its setting. Jarvi and
cinematographer Alexander Lakin take advantage of their
location's neon, candy coloured funfair aesthetic, and it's a refreshing
change from the grimy, squint inducing visuals of many of today's indie
horrors (and indeed many horror movies working with Hollywood budgets). By
no means a slasher classic, Haunt Season offers enough in its
enthusiasm to make it worthy of a spot on your spooky season watchlist this
year. It's a reminder of why Halloween is so appealing in its opportunities
for escapism, and why for some of us, it's the most wonderful time of the
year.
Haunt Season is in US cinemas from
October 4th and VOD on October 8th, and on UK/ROI VOD from October
7th.
