Although you can trace the origins of the found footage
genre back to 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust,
it was 1999’s The Blair Witch Project
that brought it into modern consciousness. There’s been a resurgence of the
genre following the runaway success of the Paranormal
Activity films. With that success comes a host of imitators and parodies,
beginning with the direct-to-video 30
Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo. One of the most prominent horror spoofs has been the Scary Movie franchise, which was
shepherded by the Wayans Brothers. They departed after two films and were
replaced by David Zucker, no stranger to parodies since he also directed Airplane and The Naked Gun. The Weinstein Company is resurrecting the Scary Movie brand after seven years with
a fifth installment coming to theaters in April. Meanwhile, Marlon Wayans, an original
star and co-writer of Scary Movie,
has branched out with his own horror-comedy, A Haunted House, which hit theaters in January and arrives on DVD
and Blu-ray shortly after the release of its competitor.
Malcolm Johnson (Wayans) is extremely excited to have his
girlfriend, Keisha (Essence Atkins), move into his handsome suburban home.
However, things go wrong immediately when she accidentally runs over Malcolm’s
beloved dog. It only gets worse when spooky events start to occur, from doors
and objects moving by themselves to ghostly moans in the middle of the night.
Keisha sheepishly admits that she sold her soul to a demon for a pair of
Christian Louboutin shoes and may have brought the supernatural presence with
her. Together, they seek help from a variety of sources, including a pair of
security experts (David Koechner and Dave Sheridan) filming their own reality
series, an overly intimate psychic (Nick Swardson), Malcolm’s gangsta cousin
Ray-Ray (Affion Crockett), and a priest (Cedric the Entertainer) with dubious
credentials.
Marlon Wayans intended A
Haunted House to be a humorous look at how black people would react to
supernatural circumstances in the place of white folk. Too bad Eddie Murphy
already did that gag in his classic stand-up special Delirious. Not to mention Murphy's joke was far funnier and only a
couple minutes long. A Haunted House is
excruciatingly dull and it's almost half an hour into the movie before the
ghost story kicks into gear. One of the criticisms levied against Paranormal Activity was the thin plot
and the plot is even thinner here. Really, it's a one joke premise. As soon as
the furniture is thrown around, get the hell out of the house. That's exactly
what Malcolm tries to do, but then the movie would be blessedly over. Instead,
he and Keisha stick around, forcing us to endure a steady string of fart jokes
and dated references to Snakes on a Plane
and the Shake Weight.
Wayans seems to think flashing his bare ass is hilarious and
does so on several occasions such as when he drunkenly defecates in the middle
of the living room and when he gets sodomized by an invisible spirit. A Haunted House also loves playing up
stereotypes from a Mexican housekeeper who seemingly can't speak English to
Nick Swardson's swishy psychic who is constantly trying to fondle Malcolm
because that's what all gay guys do.
Admittedly, there are some amusing moments. One scene finds
Malcolm and Keisha calmly eating breakfast completely ignoring the poltergeist
wreaking havoc on their kitchen. A
Haunted House might have worked as a series of short skits. As it stands,
it's nothing more than a lazy, lowbrow spoof.
Rating: * (*****)
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