A group of students open up a "haunted house" for Halloween to try to raise some money. They soon discover that someone, or something, is in the house with them, and begins killing them off ... Read allA group of students open up a "haunted house" for Halloween to try to raise some money. They soon discover that someone, or something, is in the house with them, and begins killing them off one by one.A group of students open up a "haunted house" for Halloween to try to raise some money. They soon discover that someone, or something, is in the house with them, and begins killing them off one by one.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe producers were actually involved with putting on a real haunted house event for Halloween. The idea for the film came from this yearly event.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Rewind This! (2013)
Featured review
Did We All See The Same Movie??
Here we go again. Once more I sit back in amazement after watching a pretty interesting little ultra low budget independent made movie and wonder if the others commenting on it actually watched the same film I just enjoyed. A few years ago me and two cohorts went in together on a prospect to buy out the old videos from a rental shop that was converting to DVD. I kept all the horror movies and they kept everything that would sell. The result is that while I ended up a bit poorer there is an endless supply of old rental tapes cluttering my house, most of which I never would have thought of or pursued in the first place.
DARK CARNIVAL was one of them. Now the task is to slowly watch them in turn and keep whatever can be of use. This is what I would refer to as a "keeper", odd and engaging enough to warrant a 2nd viewing at some later date, though certainly not anything I will seek out on DVD or bother recommending to anyone. BUT, I liked it's sense of arty, urban grunge. A group of talented young slackers get together every year to make a haunted house, and on the advice of a homeless former mental asylum counselor choose a house for their efforts that has some sort of demonic presence waiting for just such an occasion to possess those who are stupid enough to undertake such a task. The idea is that deaths will occur and the souls of the dead will "stay behind" to forever live in the moment of horror that was depicted in the scene.
A former survivor of another haunted house that came to life decides to stop the madness once and for all, invading the structure after closing one night and stalking those locked inside. That's all I'll reveal as far as plot specifics, though I can confirm in advance that this is NOT a funhouse slasher. It is more like MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE except instead of trucks or bulldozers coming to life we get spinning saw blades, flying knives, self-operating guillotines and lots of slippery gelatin on the floors. It's all very low budget, staged as cheaply as possible and filmed in a sort of static manner that is devoid of any overt artiness beyond documenting the sets, costumes and situational lighting used.
There are some interesting scenes however, and a kind of devil may care attitude about the staging of the film. These people knew they were probably making the only movie they would ever have a chance to participate in, and like another commenter one suspects that perhaps they actually had made a haunted house and one night while striking the set and draining a keg of beer someone struck up a conversation on making a movie around the idea of a haunted house. Since the sets would already be built all one had to do would be to synthesize a plot that would require the actors to be confined to the haunted house sets.
The idea of having a killer stalking the haunted house staff is probably a natural and the people who wrote & produced the film should be commended for not settling on such a perfunctory idea. Instead the individual horror environments of the various rooms "come to life", with admittedly mixed but still interesting results. The only time the film missteps is when one of the survivors suggests "burying" the dead body of one of the victims in the haunted house's graveyard scene room, which serves as a plot device ... and would be tampering with evidence at a crime scene. Hint for those of you who come across any dead bodies of your friends: LEAVE THEM BE and call the cops, or you may find yourself in trouble for being an accessory after the fact.
So yes the ending is kind of lame, and yes there is little or no gore, and yes there is no nudity or sex. But I did like how the cast reminded me of some of the jokers I went to art school with, particularly the hot thuggy sculpture babe who makes a torture chamber out of spinning saw blades. She had nice tight jeans and a tank top that was made for putting one's hand up inside of. And there was one laugh out loud moment when a character described having to sacrifice his hand to escape danger. And the thrown together urban junk art aesthetic is actually rather pleasing.
At some point during the next decade or so the fashionable arty urban grunge aesthetic will become a nostalgia fixation and here might be one of the perfect films to re-live the mid 1990s by. It may not be a particularly good movie but it was made, like it or not, and that's what the Clinton years were all about. You cannot fault the movie for telling things like they were.
5/10
DARK CARNIVAL was one of them. Now the task is to slowly watch them in turn and keep whatever can be of use. This is what I would refer to as a "keeper", odd and engaging enough to warrant a 2nd viewing at some later date, though certainly not anything I will seek out on DVD or bother recommending to anyone. BUT, I liked it's sense of arty, urban grunge. A group of talented young slackers get together every year to make a haunted house, and on the advice of a homeless former mental asylum counselor choose a house for their efforts that has some sort of demonic presence waiting for just such an occasion to possess those who are stupid enough to undertake such a task. The idea is that deaths will occur and the souls of the dead will "stay behind" to forever live in the moment of horror that was depicted in the scene.
A former survivor of another haunted house that came to life decides to stop the madness once and for all, invading the structure after closing one night and stalking those locked inside. That's all I'll reveal as far as plot specifics, though I can confirm in advance that this is NOT a funhouse slasher. It is more like MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE except instead of trucks or bulldozers coming to life we get spinning saw blades, flying knives, self-operating guillotines and lots of slippery gelatin on the floors. It's all very low budget, staged as cheaply as possible and filmed in a sort of static manner that is devoid of any overt artiness beyond documenting the sets, costumes and situational lighting used.
There are some interesting scenes however, and a kind of devil may care attitude about the staging of the film. These people knew they were probably making the only movie they would ever have a chance to participate in, and like another commenter one suspects that perhaps they actually had made a haunted house and one night while striking the set and draining a keg of beer someone struck up a conversation on making a movie around the idea of a haunted house. Since the sets would already be built all one had to do would be to synthesize a plot that would require the actors to be confined to the haunted house sets.
The idea of having a killer stalking the haunted house staff is probably a natural and the people who wrote & produced the film should be commended for not settling on such a perfunctory idea. Instead the individual horror environments of the various rooms "come to life", with admittedly mixed but still interesting results. The only time the film missteps is when one of the survivors suggests "burying" the dead body of one of the victims in the haunted house's graveyard scene room, which serves as a plot device ... and would be tampering with evidence at a crime scene. Hint for those of you who come across any dead bodies of your friends: LEAVE THEM BE and call the cops, or you may find yourself in trouble for being an accessory after the fact.
So yes the ending is kind of lame, and yes there is little or no gore, and yes there is no nudity or sex. But I did like how the cast reminded me of some of the jokers I went to art school with, particularly the hot thuggy sculpture babe who makes a torture chamber out of spinning saw blades. She had nice tight jeans and a tank top that was made for putting one's hand up inside of. And there was one laugh out loud moment when a character described having to sacrifice his hand to escape danger. And the thrown together urban junk art aesthetic is actually rather pleasing.
At some point during the next decade or so the fashionable arty urban grunge aesthetic will become a nostalgia fixation and here might be one of the perfect films to re-live the mid 1990s by. It may not be a particularly good movie but it was made, like it or not, and that's what the Clinton years were all about. You cannot fault the movie for telling things like they were.
5/10
helpful•20
- Steve_Nyland
- Mar 31, 2007
Details
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
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