Movie Review: A Haunted House (2013)
A Haunted House is Marlon Wayans’s latest entry in his library of horror parodies. Unfortunately, the outrageous charm of Scary Movie is lacking in this dud. The film, directed by Michael Tiddes, is a take on the found footage films of Paranormal Activity and The Devil Inside. Instead of mining this subgenre of horror to create a biting satire on a well-worn idea, A Haunted House is littered with stereotypes that drain the film of any humor.
The first hurdle any found footage film has to jump is establishing a reason for all of the footage. Marlon Wayans stars as Malcolm, a man who is documenting the event of his girlfriend moving in. Things don’t start well when Kisha (Essence Atkins) accidentally kills Malcolm’s dog with her car. They suffer the tension most couples have when personal barriers are broken like when her grooming and bathroom habits are exposed. The everyday adjustments the couple suffers are a source of the rare moments of humor, but the momentum established during the first twenty minutes hits many bumps when the hauntings begin.
In Paranormal Activity fashion, a ghost is connected to Kisha and has been since she was younger. When the first signs happen, Malcolm thinks it’s a burglar, and Kisha believes a ghost is in the house. To prove her wrong (and to provide more footage), he hires Dan the Security Man (David Koechner) to install cameras. This is when the Parade O’Stereotypes begins. Dan, a white man, is racist, and his remarks about what food Malcolm probably eats and Dan’s asking if he can say “the N-word” are repugnant. The cameras reveal the truth about Rosa (Marlene Forte), the Hispanic housekeeper: she can speak English, she runs drugs, and she has sex on the kitchen table with a gardener, who is of course a Hispanic man. As the hauntings get worse, Kisha finally gets Malcolm to agree to bring in a psychic. Chip the Psychic (Nick Swardson) is a predatory gay man, and his depiction just fuels every fear some heterosexual men have of gay men.
Essence Atkins (left) and Marlon Wayans (right)
Fans of Paranormal Activity will recognize many scenes; the bed is in the same spot, many of the camera angles are the same, and Malcolm uses powder in the hallway. Scenes from The Devil Inside are copied as well. The copied scenes don’t add anything to the film. The film would have been better if there were more subtle references like the nods to The Exorcist and The Blair Witch Project. It feels like the filmmakers were more interested in faithfully recreating scenes from other movies instead of going for laughs.
There are some funny moments in the film. Malcolm’s reaction to the ghost moving the bed is hysterical; he screams and runs away terrified, abandoning Kisha to the ghost. How he sterilizes himself after her learns about her herpes, blaming the ghost for the mess he caused while drunk, and his demonstration of his sexual prowess using stuffed animals are also humorous moments. The funniest sequence is when they get high, the ghost joins them, and they end up partying with the ghost. However, the energy these moments create is halted by appalling moments like attempting to make rape funny.
The uneven pacing of the humor, the stereotypes, and the copying of scenes from other films instead of creating satire from being inspired by these films make A Haunted House a painful film to watch. I winced more than I laughed during this film. I cannot recommend this film at all.