Haunt - Evil Awakens - DVD

Content: A terrible tragedy has occurred in the house Evan (Harrison Gilbertson) moves into with his parents Alan (Brian Wimmer) and Emily (Ione Skye), and his two sisters Sara (Danielle Chuchran) and Anita (Ella Harris). But aside from a disturbing portrait of the previous tenants' deceased son that Evan finds in his room, nothing actually reminds him of the tragic deaths that occurred here. For the withdrawn teenager, moving into the secluded house is more of a chore until he meets neighbor girl Sam (Liana Liberato). A close bond quickly forms between Evan and Samantha, and before he knows it, the boy has his first real girlfriend. But the young happiness is not long-lasting. For when they find a box in a small room behind his room that supposedly can be used to contact the dead, the two unwittingly open the gateway to another world, thereby bringing a sinister presence into the house that wants to make sure that even the new tenants won't get out of here alive...

Haunt - Evil Awakens, the feature film debut of director Mac Carter, doesn't really reinvent the wheel for the horror genre. Carter too obviously draws on quite a few haunted-house thrillers that have flooded the market with nice regularity since the success of The Amityville Horror. But even if the film can not really set new impulses and the big surprises are limited, especially the classic creepy effects, which the production uses again and again, work really well here. Little girls talking to dead people, creaking doors, eerie voices - all this just provides a comforting goosebumps again and again.

The story, which author Andrew Barrer has come up with, strictly follows the rules of the genre, but makes no secret of it himself. After all, as Janet Morello, the sole survivor of the family that once lived in the horror house, notes at the very beginning, "Every horror story begins with a house - and with a tragedy. In the case of Haunt, that's the mysterious deaths of the three Morello children and the father, who in his grief has tried to contact his children in the realm of the dead. That the new family moving into the house also has three children is obvious, as is the fact that one of the children is responsible for the fact that this new family will not be happy in the house either.

However, the script does make an effort here and there to add a new twist to all these familiar set pieces. For example, at least at the beginning, the role Sam plays in the story is not entirely clear. The fact that it's only hinted at that she's being violated at home and that we only get a hazy glimpse of her father, if at all, might raise suspicions in some genre connoisseurs, but the actual ending can only be foreseen at a pleasantly late stage. In general, the finale is one of the reasons why Haunt works well. Because similar to Sinister, for example, the last twist provides a small moment of shock, which is accompanied by a pleasant goosebumps that lasts until after the credits.

While Mac Carter has not delivered a masterpiece here, his directorial debut is a solidly crafted and atmospherically effective scary film that can be warmly recommended to all lovers of classic haunted house movies. Worth seeing!

Image + Sound: The technical realization of the film has turned out very atmospheric. Even if there are some minor weaknesses in the darker scenes in the detail representation and minimal image noise to discover, the color scheme and the harmonious contrast mix catch the gloomy-tense mood of the story yet very good. The purposefully used sound effects further underline this impression. They repeatedly provide pleasant dynamics on the surround channels in an otherwise rather restrained sound mix. Overall, there is an absolutely deserved: good!

Extras: Bonus material has the DVD unfortunately not to offer.

Conclusion: Haunt - Evil Awakens is a suspenseful creepy thriller, which with some successful shock moments and a rather surprising finale over the otherwise lacking originality consoles. But even though the story may be just another clone of genre classics like Amityville Horror, director Mac Carter's feature debut is overall extremely gripping and, aside from a few minor hangs, also thrillingly staged. If you like classic scary fare and can't get enough of haunted house stories, you should definitely pick up this technically well-realized DVD. Recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp