An unsettling mystery emerges as paranormal investigators delve into the history of a Hollywood mansion.
Review by Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Carl Medland
Starring: Carl Medland, Mumtaz Yildirimlar, Daniel P. Lopez, Ed Porter, Arthur Porter
The tricky fourth entry... Within the most famous horror franchises, the quartic episode is often a watershed: Halloween had to return to boring man stabby stab after Season of the Witch's occult conspiracy novelty, Friday the 13th promised a Final Chapter, while A Nightmare on Elm Street segued into juvenile comedy. Strange choices to align with a micro-budget found footage series which focuses on hauntings rather than knife wielding maniacs? Perhaps, but the above standards are referred to explicitly in Paranormal Hollywood Haunting, the loose third sequel to Paranormal Farm, a series written, directed and starred in by outsider auteur Carl Medland and which defies genre categorisation (the press release denotes, "documentary bio, mystery and thriller - inspired by true events and stories") as much as, at times, the films themselves defy your belief. In this sun-kissed entry, Carl and steadfast producer Mumtaz (Taz) Yildirimlar leave the farm behind and jet off to the actual Hollywood Hills to help out a couple of industry vets whose (utterly amazing) home in Santa Monica seems cursed. What a glow up!
Reframed as paranormal investigators, Carl and Taz arrive at the home of married couple Daniel P. Lopez and Arthur Porter, real life men who exist within the liminalities of Hollywood. For me, the thrill of Carl's films is the bending of truth: not only as to how far what we are being presented with is "real," but also what Carl himself perceives as actuality. You need to suspend your own sense of incredulity early to accept that in the land of woo these wealthy American men would employ two ostensible farmers from England to sort the bad energy of their house out: "I saw Paranormal Farm 2 and 3, and I can't believe you guys are here," Daniel unconvincingly effuses. Yet throughout Paranormal Hollywood Haunting (and Carl's other films) an implausibility of scenarios and hyperbolic performances are matched by an affecting verisimilitude.
What is sweetly clear is that both Carl and Taz (who films everything in found footage mode) are starstruck fans of the movies and the world of movies. We visit the real-life locations of the Myers house and then where Nancy lived in NOES; they go to that walk of fame thing and see Spielberg's star (helpless not to as a gay man, outside the Chinese Theatre Carl puts his hands in the very cement impressions left by HRH Cher). They moon over pics of Daniel with Betsy Palmer and Debbie Reynolds. Supposed horror to one side (because, to be fair, unlike the "Farm" films, Taz and Carl sort of forget about genre obligations here), what actually develops in Paranormal Hollywood Haunting is a fascinating and personal documentary about the Hollywood periphery.
We learn early that Arthur has worked within the industry at levels of creative importance (hence the house, which, upon scrolling back and forth as I'm reviewing, is repeatedly showcased by Taz's camera in detailed tracking shots, as if he is an understandably awestruck realtor), receiving awards for work on Sleepless in Seattle, The Shawshank Redemption and Groundhog Day. This is related by Arthur's son, Edward, who is suspicious of Carl in a deeply entertaining pantomime manner (he refuses to shake our boy's ostentatiously proffered hand) and has the huckster accent you would hope for someone tangentially implicated in the studio system. There is authentic Hollywood gossip peppered throughout the staged scares, including some about Tom Cruise (not that), and intimations about meeting Prince (which I am fuming Carl didn't follow up). The dichotomy of Paranormal Hollywood Haunting, the tension between real life mythology and horror pretension, is best explained by a midpoint poolside scene. As Arthur and Carl both paddle, the former elucidates his involvement in the obscenely expensive Fantasia digitisation when Carl suddenly experiences a psychic invasion initially manifesting as extreme cramps and continuing with our lead being pulled under the water (a subconscious influence from the earlier walk of fame feature?). Best friend Taz cheerfully remains filming, even placing the camera beneath the surface to show Carl being assaulted by a strange Sadako-esque figure. "It's not funny, I've been pulled under," Carl complains after he's been rescued by Edward.
The ghost girl character shows up here and there within the narrative (via, perhaps, a Ghost Watch influence?), along with other occultly tropes such as automatic writing and a séance. It's harmless ham, but what really intrigues is the emergent analysis of gay Hollywood. Daniel and Arthur have a May to December relationship, with Arthur having lost his long-time lover to AIDS which was transferred to him, it is implied, by Anthony Perkins. Daniel confesses, in a scene where Carl winningly affects an even camper Louis Theroux, that he came to Hollywood homeless, and ended up selling himself on the streets. In the midst of this quite heavy-going admission, Carl hilariously asks Daniel about the dark energy of the house as if transactional sex with a stranger is worse than a few bits of furniture shuffling about of their own accord! Speaking of which, there is a furniture moving scene and the insouciant manner in which our pair react has to be seen to believed: "the rocking chair just rocked on its own, which really scared Taz, didn't it?," "Yeah, it did," "Yeah, that's kind of scary," and they ruminate that the wayward pew at least means that their flight wasn't "wasted" - rolling!
I can be sardonic when I'm writing about Carl's work - I genuinely love his films for their sincerity and daftness, yet my camp appreciation for their looseness is preciously negotiated - but with Paranormal Hollywood Haunting along with a tongue in my cheek there were also tears in my eye. The tale of redemption which Daniel offers - "at least I'm not in prison or dead" - is affecting because you can only guess at how many people don't get the happy ending which Daniel has, with his loving relationship and authorial career writing rompy horrors. These books are linked to the mystery, with Carl ruefully intoning that "something is manifesting through horror legends and stories" (I actually bought the novel featured in Paranormal Hollywood Haunting - 'The Vendetta House' - based on the film's hard sell..!). As the plot settles into a kind of micro-budget Black Dahlia retelling, there are moments which may be cinematically accidental, but which prove either visually or narratively provident: Carl's nice Fred Perry top matching Arthur's bedspread, the house cat ("Twilight") biting Carl - "it's getting stronger Taz, when you think about it." This is characteristic of the easy going, haphazard manner of Carl and Taz's filmmaking, which convincingly makes the most of circumstances which are already weird and strange to create something defiantly authentic.
Paranormal Hollywood Haunting is on Prime Video now.
