A Haunted House (2013)
86 min · Comedy, Horror
Marlon Wayans's crude found-footage spoof was savaged for relying almost entirely on gross-out humor and racial stereotyping with no genuine wit.
The Bottom Reel's take
Ah, *A Haunted House*. When Marlon Wayans decided to turn his comedic lens on the found-footage horror craze, he was clearly swinging for the fences, aiming for a laugh riot that would skewer genre conventions with gleeful abandon. The ambition was palpable: take a horror subgenre that thrives on cheap scares and turn it into a vehicle for even cheaper laughs. The result, according to many, was a wide miss, a film that landed with a critical thud and an audience score that barely scraped the halfway mark. Yet, for us at The Bottom Reel, that yawning chasm between aspiration and execution is precisely where the magic happens.
This 2013 comedy-horror hybrid, clocking in at a brisk 86 minutes, leans heavily into its self-appointed task of parodying found-footage tropes. It’s infamous, we're told, for relying almost entirely on gross-out humor and racial stereotyping, rather than genuine wit. Now, that description might sound like a warning label, but for a film that dares to go there, it often means it's hitting a particular, unrefined comedic nerve. We’re talking about the kind of craft where subtlety is tossed out the window in favor of the most direct, often outrageous, punchline. It’s a movie that doesn't just embrace its "badness," it rolls around in it like a puppy in a mud puddle, delighted by the mess it makes.
And that, dear readers, is exactly why *A Haunted House* is still worth your precious Friday night. Forget the critical drubbing of 10/100; that score simply reflects its failure to adhere to conventional comedic standards. What it *does* succeed at, however, is being a monument to unadulterated, unpretentious silliness. It’s camp, it’s chaotic, and it’s gloriously unconcerned with highbrow humor. When a film is savaged for its crude jokes and stereotypes, it often means it’s serving up a banquet for those who find humor in the outrageous, the taboo, and the downright absurd. It's the kind of movie that thrives on audience reactions, whether they be groans, bewildered laughter, or outright guffaws.
So, while *A Haunted House* may never win any awards for sophisticated satire, it absolutely delivers on the "unforgettably fun" front for the right kind of viewer. We wholeheartedly recommend gathering your most uninhibited friends, stocking up on your favorite snacks (the messier, the better, to match the film's vibe), and settling in for a viewing experience that demands you leave your cinematic pretensions at the door. Embrace the crudeness, lean into the stereotypes, and you might just find yourself laughing in all the "wrong" places – which, for us, means *exactly* the right ones.
Synopsis
A man films the supernatural chaos that erupts after his girlfriend moves into his apartment in this parody of found-footage horror films.