The Overlooked Horror Movie Subgenre That’s Absolutely Perfect For Halloween

Are you shocked to learn the author of /Film’s three Halloween Horror Nights articles this year is a haunted attraction addict? Invite me to your Halloween mazes, hayrides, docked ocean liners, and Shaqtoberfests. I crave haunt season entertainment. Even better, I crave “Haunt Season Horror” movies. Is that trademarked? Can I coin that terminology?

Haunt Season Horror titles must take place in a Horror Nights-like maze or immersive experience, turning seasonal amusements into slaughterhouse backdrops. Marquee examples would be “Hell Fest,” your corporate-branded Six Flags Fright Fest take, or “The Houses October Built,” which ventures into the less moderated realm of do-it-yourself haunts. These films prey upon the rational fears of patrons who attend these pop-up “Scarehouses,” stripping away the safety of regulated horror experiences. What happens when a killer infiltrates a place where commercial terror is purchased at a premium? It’s the ultimate Halloween treat.

Unfortunately, there’s a shallow pool of options to bob for, with many poison apples amongst the sweeter treats. My perfect trifecta would be “Hell Fest,” “Hell House LLC,” and “The Houses October Built,” with “The Funhouse Massacre” on standby. You have a supernatural found-footage banger, another found-footage creepshow hinging on spoiled attraction tropes, and then a studio slasher decked out in the holiday spirit. These features indulge horror fans and exploit Halloween’s headlining celebrations for relatable scares, proficient in understanding the “possible” risks of attending haunts that fall into the wrong hands (search “McKamey Manor” or watch “Haunters: The Art of the Scare” for the closest real-life instance).

What’s strange to me is the lack of Haunt Season Horror options compared to other subgenres. In 2017, I ranked 80+ Christmas Horror titles for /Film (and have now seen 120+). Through my research, I found 29 Haunt Season Horror flicks available on major enough platforms (ScreamboxTV and Tubi boast a large quantity). That seems surprisingly low, given how haunted mazes are playgrounds for horror filmmaker fantasies. How isn’t there an officially licensed Halloween Horror Nights tie-in film produced by Universal Studios by now? All we have is Jon Binkowski’s “The Scare Zone,” shot in the mid-2000s using Universal Orland’s award-winning “Body Collectors” maze as its primary location — which doesn’t even match even a thimble-sized sip of Horror Nights’ greatness.

Beneficially, filmmakers spotlight regional attractions that already employ scare actors and attract crowds. Joshua Shreve’s “Talon Falls” showcases Kentucky’s Talon Falls Scream Park, Bobby Roe champions the multiple locations used in “The Houses October Built,” and Jake Jarvi’s “Haunt Season” uses a Midwest staple. Production designers needn’t overhaul locations because they’re already in festive appearances, plus they spread the word about destinations viewers can visit should they muster the courage. How often have you flipped on a holiday horror title to be met with weak holiday representations? That’s never a problem for Haunt Season Horrors, keying into visual familiarity like biting into a fun-sized candy bar after an all-night trick-or-treat adventure.

What’s underestimated is the variety found throughout the subgenre. Filmmakers might simply mark their territory inside a themed house where a lunatic camouflages amongst the fake evils and chops through victims, but that’s merely a starting point. Gavin Michael Booth’s “The Scarehouse” is a plot for revenge; two sorority sisters build a functional Halloween attraction to get back at the sisters who betrayed them. “Talon Falls” approaches the haunt as a literal killing field, where dopey outsiders become featured actors in Hostel-like traps. A thematic overlord of control helps Haunt Season Horror stories veer in different directions — who owns it, and what do they do with it? Filmmakers who explore stranger and more unexpected reasons versus straightforward takes like the familiar yet exceptionally top-tier “Hell Fest” are splendid surprises, bringing more to the table than hacks and beheadings.

Where filmmakers who choose the haunted maze route provoke common fears of killers in plain sight, those who address immersive haunts and infatuations with extreme boundary-pushing highlight the opposite. Preston DeFrancis’ “Ruin Me,” Anthony DiBlasi’s “Extremity,” and Vincent Masciale’s “Fear, Inc.” examine the mentalities of waiver-signing patrons who seek borderline illegal obstacles. “Extremity” especially divulges why horror fans chase these dangerous thrills and why nerve-shredding experiences bring comfort, as well as the shady characters who erect these domains of torture. It’s not just about what makes these thrillhouses succeed, but why patrons would subject themselves to recreated horror film scenarios.

These microcosms are more profound and revealing than typical ruminations on the stereotypical supporting cast nerd who owns seven rereleased limited edition copies of “Friday the 13th.” It’s more understandable, too. Horror films unlocked a path away from my anxieties, and jumpy Horror Nights thrills feed my escapism. “Extremity” takes seventeen steps further to investigate these participatory events as therapeutic catharsis. Genre elements spin out of control, blazing past healthy dosages of scared-straight releases, but that’s also the point. As with all hobbies, moderation is suggested — a movie like “Fear, Inc.” is the unreal nightmare of what happens when addictions go unchecked.

Then again, who needs more than that? Andy Palmer’s “The Funhouse Massacre” unleashes veteran genre actors as criminally insane patients who invade a Halloween attraction built in their names. Gonzo mazes are tributes to killers like Animal the Cannibal (E.E. Bell) or sexy-slayer dentist Dr. Suave (Sebastian Siegel), ushering into question the morality of profits made off actual tragedies. A different movie might lay into the psychological wrongdoings, but “The Funhouse Massacre” keeps things light and enjoys stacking a body count while maniacs turn a neon-painted, effects-driven attraction into their limb-covered playground. There’s a wickedness that’s in line with the Halloween spirit, answering the question: What if an attraction ever became unsafe?

Those “What Ifs” range from the doofishly comical to the utterly petrifying. Doug Robertson’s “HauntedWeen” features crafty gore effects, video store standees of popular horror icons, and a flamethrower that saves the day for a spooky-silly take on haunted house horrors. Daniel Erickson’s Texas-made “Scary Movie” (1991) follows suit, starring a babyfaced John Hawkes playing a dorky goon stuck inside a local scareatorium. Then there are your more expected takes like Sonny Mallhi’s “Hurt,” which borrows heavily from “The Strangers” (a film he produced), or Owen Egerton’s “Blood Fest” — although the latter indulges its B-movie vanity as the third act pivots (not for the better).

To be fair, I understand why Haunt Season Horrors aren’t more widely applauded. Some of the movies I mentioned above left me hollow as a Jack-O-Lantern inside, in addition to others I won’t mention (but ranked because I’m a masochistic completionist). Much like other subgenres that get mistaken as easy-to-manufacture gimmicks — found footage needing no budget or Christmas horror with minimal investment — filmmakers don’t think past the introductory formula of “haunted maze + death = awesome.” Opportunity often attracts imposters, and with so few options available, the bottom of the barrel is reached with haste. For every “The Houses October Built,” there’s a “The Houses October Built 2.” It’s extraordinary how one franchise in a shrunken subgenre can boast one of the best and worst executions.

Still, Haunt Season Horrors should be on your seasonal marathon menus. These titles meld the inherent excitement of walking through pulse-heightening attractions with the survival chills of containment slasher scenarios, all drenched in orangy, autumnal signatures. You can transport haunt season into your living room, complete with exaggerated paranoias of scardy cats coming to life. Worst-case scenarios become fodder for October standouts, especially when advertising real American haunts. “Hell House LLC,” “Hell Fest,” and more shouldn’t be overlooked now or whenever, so put some respect on their names and embrace Haunt Season Horrors this Halloween.