Halloween haunts, those yearly “houses” or hay rides that appear in October as a themed carnival, have become more than customary.  They’ve become staples.  Unlike the ones decades ago when they were just done quickly as fundraisers for girl scouts, now they are filled with special effects, have a lot of props, and are marketed statewide.  So having the idea of merging them into a found footage horror film seemed like a good idea.  In 2015, THE HOUSES THAT OCTOBER BUILT was released on VOD getting a lot of buzz.  Its follow up, THE HOUSES THAT OCTOBER BUILT 2, followed in 2017

Brandy, Zack, Bobby, Mikey, and Jeff decide as a group to visit some of the more notorious “haunts” around the country.  They head out in their rented RV and begin documenting the various events.  When they hear that there is an underground version called the Blue Skeleton, they decide to hunt them out.  This leads them first to Texas and eventually Louisiana.  Their excitement soon leads to discomfort and finally may lead to possibly their deaths.

The two films are directed by Bobby Roe who also is one of the stars.  He co-wrote it with his co-star Zack Andrews.  The first received fairly decent reviews while the second, though not as favorable by critics, was also well received by fans.  As the Dark Discussions Halloween episode, your co-hosts take a look at this mini-film franchise and gives their thoughts.