Also, I looked for the original The Houses October Built documentary, but was unable to track it down. I finally discovered that it was available on the Blu-Ray version of the fictional version of the film, but I'm not looking to upgrade at this time, so that one will have to wait. I doubt I could get a hold of it by the end of the month anyway, but regardless, I'm just going to let that one go for now. Maybe next year.
On the plus side, it led me to today's film, another documentary about scare-houses, these of the more homemade variety. So, without further ado, I bring you my review of...
The American Scream is a nifty little documentary that originally aired on the Chiller network- remember that? R.I.P. - and is now available on YouTube, iTunes and Netflix, who bought up all the properties that Chiller once owned when it folded, FYI. It chronicles the efforts of several dedicated Halloween fans to create their own, self-made scare-houses within their actual homes. In other words, to create a D.I.Y. "home haunt," as the film calls them.
The phenomenon, if it can be called that, began in the 70's, but didn't really take off in earnest until the mid-to-late 90's, with the advent of the internet, as well as the Haunted Attraction National Tradeshow and Convention (HAuNTcon), a sort of Comic-Con for those who run professional scare-houses. Once certain people realized that they could create scare-houses in their own homes, the movement took off and such small-scale endeavors began cropping up all over the States.
Scream focuses in on one specific town in Massachusetts: Fairhaven, where one man's obsession spreads to other members of the community, who started their own mini-scare-houses as a direct result of the popularity of ring-leader Victor Bariteau's incredibly elaborate undertaking. While neither of the also-rans come close to Bariteau's level of attention to detail, the mere fact that they loved it so much that they were inspired to do their own is inspiring in and of itself.
Along the way, we see the toll the rush to create as elaborate experience as possible takes not only on those creating it, but their often-overwhelmed families as well- you've never seen such patient wives as you'll see here, lol. All concerned involve their families in the process, almost out of necessity, but it's interesting to see how each of them handles it individually- if anything, I wouldn't have minded seeing a little more of that on display.
For instance, there's Rick and Matt Brodeur, a father-son team that loved Victor's work so much they decided to tackle one of their own. As the two are basically on their own, save the help of one family friend- which Matt goes out of his way to designate as a just a "friend," in spite of their pretty obvious affection for one another- the end results are decidedly low-rent, but charming in their inventiveness, as the Brodeurs literally take junk they find in the basement, people's yards or at junkyards and transform them into ghoulish delights.
The film goes to lengths not to make fun of any of the participants- even Victor avoids the temptation to really slam his would-be competitors: he knows his is the best, more or less, so he doesn't see them as the competition, so much as fellow Halloween fans that felt compelled to throw their own hats in the ring after Victor inspired them with his own display. In fact, another of the group that is the focus of the documentary, Manny Souza, actually helps Victor out with his home haunt while in the process of maintaining his own.
In short, this is kind of the Halloween doc we need right now- a story of people in a community working together, not against one another. In these divided times, it's nice to be reminded we weren't always at each other's throats all the time like we are now. One has to wonder if this film was made now, if things wouldn't deteriorate into something like the movie Deck the Halls, where everyone was desperately trying to outdo one another to the extent that it caused rifts and in-fighting in town.
I can just hear it now- on one side, you'd hear the conservative contingent grousing about how scare-houses were the bastion of evil and a celebration of Satan himself, while liberal snowflake types grumble about the negative effect the home haunts have on their poor children, who have nightmares for weeks after what they saw on their neighbor's lawn, in plain view of the whole neighborhood- oh, the horror! 😱
But back in 2012, at least in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, not only does the neighborhood come out in droves, with lines all the way to the street, but many of them volunteer to pitch in and help build the home haunts, too. And did I mention that no one seems to be getting paid for any of this? As far as I could tell, all of these home haunts seem to be completely self-financed. We do hear brief talk of how Victor sets aside "X" amount of money for his annual haunt- we never hear exactly what any of the folks involved specifically spend on all this- and how he fears his days of working on computers may be limited, but only a little on the toll it takes on the families in question.
Basically, Victor's wife casually notes that, if it weren't this, it would be something else- say, season tickets to watch his favorite team play, for instance. She just accepts it because it's his thing, and it isn't putting them in immediate jeopardy- at least at the moment. It's also noted how, fascinatingly, Victor, who was raised by a religious family that didn't celebrate the holidays, period- even Christmas. As a direct result, when he started his own family, he was determined to make up for lost time- to recreate the childhood he never had for his family- and himself.
You can tell that Victor's wife worries about it, and if his increasing obsession with creating the "ultimate" home haunt will eventually bring them down, but she also clearly loves him and supports him, even as he often behaves like an ass to everyone in his quest to make everything perfect, and treats her more like an employee than a wife- at least during the month of October. Towards the end of the film, we discover that those fears were warranted, as he is indeed laid off from his job.
Instead of immediately hunting for a new job, he makes the astonishing move to go for it and actually build a full-fledged scare-house for real, as a stand-alone project outside of his house, investing his entire life savings into it. We never get to see his wife's reaction to that particular bit of business, but I'm guessing she probably wasn't thrilled.
It's worth noting that, for the most part, though, it really does seem to bring the family together, with Victor's daughter in particular gleefully embracing the overall holiday and home haunt thing, noting her delight in the prospect of scaring the hell out of her friends and her wonderfully morbid contributions to the whole affair, including mutilated Barbie dolls and misshapen toys and the like. She's a chip off the old block, to be sure- if I ever have kids, I hope I get one like her, lol.
Alas, I did a little digging online, and though initially a success, Victor's completed "Ghoulie Manor" was closed in 2016 and has yet to re-open as of this year, which is a shame. It looked to be a pretty neat thing while it lasted, and you can read more about it here on the official website, and see some footage of it on YouTube here. I genuinely hope that Victor and his family is able to rebound from this, as you can't fault the guy for ambition- hopefully, he'll eventually get a happy ending for his dream.
The American Scream was directed by Michael Paul Stephenson, of Best Worst Movie fame, which, for those unaware, is an endearing documentary about the hilariously bad Troll 2, which Stephenson also appeared in as an actor. Over the years, the notoriously terrible film has attained a reputation as one of the worst horror movies ever made, but also one of the most unintentionally funny, in the tradition of the work of someone like Ed Wood or the likes of Robot Monster and Manos: The Hands of Fate.
Though not quite as good as BWM- it admittedly drags in places, and I could have stood a bit more about the inner workings of each of the families- Stephenson does a solid job overall, and it really is fascinating to see how the town comes together to help Victor and Manny Souza realize their dreams. (Not so much Rick and Matt Brodeur, who are a bit on the hapless side, albeit in an endearing way.) It says a lot about a town that they would do it for free, even as Victor in particular can be a bit demanding.
I also love how creative the three main home haunters are, achieving some fairly remarkable effects on a decidedly limited budget. I mean, it's nothing that's going to put the fear of God- or Satan, for that matter- into the more big-budget scare-houses, to be sure, but considering what a shoestring budget these guys are working on, the end results are pretty impressive. And by no means is this sort of thing limited to just Fairhaven, mind you- there are also glimpses of other home haunts in other states and you can find plenty more on YouTube.
I just love the notion of people being so enamored of Halloween that they go the extra mile and actually go so far as to create an ad-hoc scare-house in their own homes, and I'm happy to see that these things have only become more widespread and elaborate in the wake of this documentary's release back in 2012. While the dreams of some of these people's endeavors may become nightmares for others, I sincerely hope this continues to be a thing in the years to come.
In the meantime, if you don't have access to such things in your own town, by all means, check this doc out and be prepared to be wowed. After that, feel free to fall down the wormhole of the many others that have arrived in the wake of this film on YouTube like I did- it's a fun way to prepare for all my fellow horror movie lovers' fave holiday, for sure. 🎃
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