In defiance of conventional wisdom, the second week of 2013 sees yet another film that doesn’t aspire to the bottom-of-the-barrel stature usually typified by early-in-the-year releases. Quite to the contrary, A HAUNTED HOUSE sets out to deflate found-footage horror in general, and the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY franchise in specific, and more often than not hits its targets quite capably. It’s raunchy, yes, and willfully offensive to any number of special interest groups, but funny is funny, and Marlon Wayans as a boyfriend confronting weird goings-on — including a ghost with a taste for both weed and strange — when his girlfriend (Essence Atkins) moves in turns out to be pretty damn funny.
Come join Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski and Dan Persons as they sit down to discuss the hits and misses in this uninhibited satire, weighing the relative, comedic value of menacing household help, foul-mouthed exorcists, and the reintroduction of the word “Mandingo” to the popular lexicon. Plus: What’s coming to theaters next week.
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