User Reviews

Funny and straight-forward. jokes don't all hit but made me laugh a bunch (2 viewings)

*1/2 out of **** (ROTTEN)

Channel the New Year. Already in the second week, the Tomato Meter is at its lowest- a dashing seven percent, and with a spoof movie. This cannot end well. I will admit, the trailer had me chuckling. I'm big on stereotypical humor, and from time to time I like to succumb myself to just stupid, dumb fun. Being a fan of the first Scary Movie certainly doesn't hurt matters.

With that being said, "A Haunted House" is exactly what you'd expect... and not much else. In terms of humor, the ratio's about 2:5. That might seem like a bad mark, which it is, but for a film that aims at the lowest common denominator and scores a higher denominator, it's not too shabby. Acting/story, well, you don't go to these kinds of movies for that. Same goes for editing/choreography.

There's not much you can say about this film. This is one of those cases where you either are the audience FOR this film or you're not. If you're a fan of the first two Scary Movies, have an admiration for the Wayans brothers, and dig the advertisements for this film, you'll walk out of there with some good laughs here and there. If you completely despise these movies, or this type of humor in general, you'll walk out feeling cheated.

However, be warned, this is NOT a kids film (ala a Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer production or even the last Scary Movies that were PG-13). Tons of sex scenes (played for laughs though), nudity, drugs, and such abound.

All in all, it's not as bad as you're led to believe, but it's still pretty flimsy.

A Haunted House (2013)

*** (out of 4)

Malcolm (Marlon Wayans) moves his girlfriend Kisha (Essence Atkins) in with him and soon they start to encounter the paranormal. Look, I'll freely admit that I walked into A HAUNTED HOUSE with incredibly low expectations but within the first minute I had tears running down my face from laughing so hard. I'll admit that I'm shocked at how much I enjoyed this thing but unlike SCARY MOVIE and other spoofs, this film here isn't just a copycat of the films it's spoofing but instead it's actually a well thought out comedy that has a lot of imagination that takes it down various funny roads. If you've seen SCARY MOVIE (or countless other spoofs) then you know there's always going to be some pot jokes. Well, this film here contains a pot gag and it was one of the funniest scenes I've seen in any movie in a very long time. The majority of the gags really hit their mark, which is so impressive considering that they're being thrown at the very every few seconds. As you'd expect the majority of the jokes are vulgar and cheap but what's most important is that they're funny. We get fart jokes, gay jokes, racial jokes as well as making fun of countless horror movies and they all work. Wayans turns in one of his funniest performances is ages and his scene in the bathtub is just downright classic in oh so many ways. Atkins is also extremely good in her role and takes a lot of abuse but the two have such great chemistry that you can't help but laugh. Nick Swardson, David Koechner, Dave Sheridan and Cedric the Entertainer play the people who get involved with the ghosts and all add some terrific laughs. A HAUNTED HOUSE wasn't made to win Oscars or be taken serious. It's a spoof and for the most part it's actually a lot better than many of the films that it's making fun of.

A Haunted House was a terrible movie. It had a few (very far between) cheap laughs. Most of the jokes fell flat and the gags were lame and stupid. And I don't mean stupid-funny. I mean stupid as in rolling your eyes and wondering why the film makers expected this to make you laugh. Most of the film parodied the blockbuster horror smash Paranormal Activity, and also contains a few poorly done spoofs of iconic scenes from other well known horror movies.

If you're looking for a decent horror spoof, I recommend picking up Scary Movie 5 instead. It's not a great movie either, but it's Oscar material compared to this stink bomb.

barely laughed at all after seeing the poor previews on T.V, I still decided to go and what a waste of time it was pure annoyance is what i would describe it as of course there was no plot, (everyone saw that coming) you can find more comedy that makes you laugh in a feminist romance that your wife dragged you to I want to stand outside of the movie theater flagging down people telling them not to go see this The entire movie is the same as what you saw on the commercials at home. Do not go and see this. just plain terrible i never not laughed so hard in my life. what a pathetic drawn out movie. not funny don't waste your time and money on this folks.

Whether or not this movie was stereotypical should be set aside for reviews. Focus on the main parts of this movie which were to utterly make fun of paranormal activity and the devil inside. I felt like this movie is under-rated. I thought they got straight into funny and absolutely making fun of paranormal activity 1 very quickly. The first scene was based on making fun of the camera work of paranormal activity in the bed room. Although these sorts of comedies are always a stupid sort of funny, I laughed throughout this movie, especially at the character of Chip the psychic; whose main goal is to bring out the gay demons in Malcolm the main character. I had a good laugh and if you can score some tickets for cheap its not a bad, make you laugh at stupid comedy, type of movie.

This movie sucked.

I really enjoyed In Living Color and the Wayan Brothers and was looking forward to this movie. It could have been good.

It sucked. I wanted to leave after the first 5 minutes, but gave it a chance. I should have left.

Marlon was good, but he couldn't carry the entire show. And, he went long on some parts too.

The rest of the actors were terrible. Quality of a TV show at best.

There were some good parts, but all of them added up to about 5 minutes of good. The best part, was the trailer.

Okay if you've seen the first Scary Movie and laughed, you'll find this funny. I like silly/dumb funny so I was cracking up at many parts. Some folks are looking for witty, award winning comedy, full of heartfelt all-around good jokes. If this is you, skip out on this one. Overall, I'd give it a 6.5/7. Some parts were simply dumb, but that's to be expected. If you have 10 bucks, an hour and a half, and you wouldn't mind a laugh or two, I say go for it. If you're looking for wit, class, and style, keep it moving. Still unsure? Okay I'll tell you the movie, without spoiling it. Basically a guy has his girlfriend move into his house. He's skeptical, because his friends have warned him about the dangers of having a girlfriend move in, ya know, no more dream-girlfriend. Anyways, she moves in and stuff starts getting weird. With the increasing weirdness, more characters are introduce to help stop the weirdness. It's a movie with a simple plot, simple characters, and a silly flow. If this sounds good to you, you'll love it!

This was the worst movie I have seen in a long long time. I kept expecting the laugh to come but they never showed up. Very disappointing, I was expecting something much better from a Wayan. It looked like there was no preparation for each scene. It was poorly acted, no continuity and the Blair Witch project camera handling is so much a thing of the past. I have seen much better dialogues in improvised shows than this piece of movie-making that doesn't even deserve a mention in a trash can content review. I definitely do NOT recommend this movie to anyone, I am overly surprised this movie grossed over 40 millions, The Wayans brothers must have bought most of the tickets to over-inflate the total sales on this one. Crap !

Let's get this straight right now: I appreciate good movies. Was this a good movie? No, in fact it was pretty stupid. Will people hate it? Absolutely. Did I enjoy it? A whole lot. I don't know what it was about this movie, but at times I could not stop myself from laughing. In my head I knew it was stupid, but I just didn't care. It's immature, raunchy, and ridiculous, but I loved it. The only Marlon Wayans movies I like, along with this one, is the first Scary Movie, and White Chicks. All three of them were pretty stupid. But that's the point. Sometimes you just have to see those movies that are obviously not good, but will entertain you. I love good, well made movies as much as the next guy, but I also enjoy just kicking back and watching a movie that will keep me smiling for 90-120 minutes. So if you're bored, have $7-$10, and an hour and a half to burn, watch this movie.

If you are bored then watch this it is hilarious love it but if felt like they were on budget

I will keep this brief as this movie is not even worth spending time to write a review other than to say don't waste your time unless you enjoy recycled, crass humor. I knew I was going to hate this movie from the opening scene with the dog. Is it just me am I the only one that find animal cruelty inappropriate and offensive? The movie only got worse from there. Poorly written, repetitive and offensive on every level without being funny. This is the first film I've seen that depicts rape with a pot smoking ghost, I'm no prude and I have a sense of humour but geez it was really bad taste and not funny at all. Bad acting,even worse unimaginative script, teenagers would probably love it!! I wanted to leave after 10 minutes however I was with a friend who really wanted to see it. It's on the top of my list of worst movies ever, don't waste your money on this utter garbage.

The Wayans brothers have a terrific track record during the beginning of their career, with the SNL-like skit-show In Living Colour and the first two Scary Movie films. Then, as the 2000's pushed on, they veered off into the course of juvenile humor, focusing on nothing but the realms of farts, crudeness, and language, all of which I can laugh at and enjoy when handled with wit and heart. But when so many nonsensical humor bits are thrown at the audience and there's nothing substantial worth sticking around for, the end result is a tedious and utterly uninteresting endeavor.

Shawn Wayans, however, is absent from A Haunted House, leaving his brother and longtime co-worker Marlon to pick up the slack. The idea and thought I always manage to encounter when viewing one of their films or, to broaden this up, a parody movie, is that the cast and crew definitely had a good time making this movie, what will all the idiocy that could drum up knowing that a nice, shiny lump-sum of cash would await them opening weekend. However, when I sit through an eighty-one minute parody, given nothing but extended fart gags, annoying characters, ridiculously crass sex scenes, and a minute and a half sequence of a grown man having sex with a teddy bear, I don't laugh, I wince and later recall the experience sourly.

The story concerns a young couple, Malcolm and Keisha (Marlon Wayans and Essence Atkins), who optimistically move in together into a beautiful new suburban home. Malcolm decides that this unforgettable time in his life needs to be recorded prolifically, so everything we see in this film is recorded from Malcolm's personal camera. Soon, things become frighteningly paranormal as the young couple experiences loud, abrupt pangs in the middle of the night, haunting screams coming from who knows where, and the obligatory series of things falling from the ceiling and off the table for no apparent reason. When Malcolm learns that it's Keisha's presence that makes these paranormal activities occur, he decides to hire people like David Koechner, Cedric the Entertainer, and Nick Swardson (aka laugh devices to push the story over eighty minutes long) to try and exorcise the demons from their home.

Within the first few minutes of the film, we get our first mean-spirited, completely uncalled for joke which involves Keisha, who pulled into the driveway and ran over Malcolm's dog. What follows is a frantic chase to revive the dog using jumper cables and CPR, before Malcolm decides to run down the street, dog in arms, screaming for medical help. I reiterate for the umpteenth time that animal abuse in films is unwarranted, exploitative, and unnecessary, and to make humor out of it is lower than relying on toilet humor.

A Haunted House may not capitalize off of the "how many movies can we lampoon and how many references can we make in ninety minutes?" theme that has made Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer so successful with their long line of "Movie" movies, but it fails largely because of its persistency to make unfunny things seem funny and implement an outdated parody.

So your film is making fun of Paranormal Activity and tries to sustain that gimmick by mocking the series' stupidity and incredulity for eighty-one straight minutes? Congratulations? The fact of the matter is that the series has been parodied so many times that in order to make a new parody of it funny, you really must try to have sly writing and witty banter. Not just idiotic situations over and over again, occupied by unnecessary shouting, four-letter words, chaotic mishaps, senseless misunderstandings, and lunacy. It's like making a parody for The Blair Witch Project and Twilight in 2013. It's no longer a question of "what can we make funny?" it's a question of "what is there left to make fun of?" A Haunted House, unfortunately, predicates itself off of the lowest common denominator of humor. It's repetitive, dreary, and lazy in its efforts to make humor out of the Paranormal Activity franchise. Instead of going for the low-brow work, making a parody film that doesn't seem to care about the quality of its work, Marlon Wayans would've been better to just round up his brother and attempt a satire or a comedic farce off of original material from his own mind.

Maybe this sounds like the movie you've been waiting to see for a while now. I suppose we must cherish stupid humor in a time of serious problems. Contrary to what some believe, I walked in with optimism that I would see a clever parody of a film series so tired and worn, already approaching its fifth installment this year. Ironically, I would've rather watched the forthcoming Paranormal Activity 5 than this. The jokes and setups are so tiredly concocted and stale that, much like the franchise being parodied here, you feel you've seen it all before and the element of surprise has evaporated into thin air. I return to the statement I made in my review of Movie 43 that the spoof/skit genre is uniformly dead and, at this point, is just awaiting a ceremony and a funeral.

Starring: Marlon Wayans, Essence Atkins, Cedric the Entertainer, Nick Swardson, David Koechner, and Dave Sheridan. Directed by: Michael Tiddes.

I was looking for something funny to watch last night, when I came across this. I did like 'A Scary Movie' so thinking this would be similar I put it on.

The movie served its purpose to make fun of Paranormal Activity and the like, but it just wasn't funny. It was dumb. I didn't laugh through out the whole, and almost shut it off twice, but I sat through it thinking it would get better. Though it never did.

I felt like the movie tried really hard to be funny, but most of the scenes just felt repetitive and got old quick, and lasted longer than they should've.

The film was pretty crude and raunchy, which doesn't bother me, and mainly consisted of fart, poop and sex jokes, with one drug reference. So yeah you're not missing much.

this has too be the biggest pile of garbage i have ever seen and I've seen some crap..obviously some one thinks these guys have talent because of the finances involved....please donate any money too charity than finance a wayans brothers movie again, i actually liked white chicks maybe a follow up on what was a funny movie, white chicks that is instead of a follow through what this movie is would be a better option....but its all down to taste at the end of the day and this film has taste....bad.....it relies on too many sexual references to be taken seriously.

thank you for reading

"You made a deal with the devil for a pair of shoes? Not shoes Malcolm!!! Louboutins OK, they've got red soles and they make my calves pop. I really needed them OK!" Malcolm (Wayans) and Kisha (Atkins) have moved in together and are excited to start their new life together. When strange things start to happen they look for answers and narrow it down to one thing. A ghost is messing with them. This is another movie that is pretty much what you would expect. Funnier then the recent Scary Movie movies but after a half hour it seemed to run out of ideas and started to repeat itself. The first half hour was really funny though. The movie spoofs the Paranormal Activity and Last Exorcism movies so if you have seen those this will be funnier. The dialog is funny and this is worth watching but don't expect to laugh all the way through, unless you like the same joke over and over. Overall, very funny for awhile then runs out of steam. I give it a B-.

It had been a long time before I saw such an awful movie. I hardly watched it. It was worse than Extreme movie which, compared to that, seemed to have some interesting scenes. It's movies like this that make me search for a good comedy from the 80's and 90's. The plot is unbelievably stupid, the jokes are so dull I almost fell asleep watching this movie. I don't even want to know the name of the director. If this is the future of the parody, I prefer to watch a horror movie. I don't want to sound like those people who like only Oscar-winner movies, I liked "Scary movie", "Shriek...", even "Not another teen movie", but this... this is truly horrible. I highly recommend you not to watch it.

First off, if you go into this movie with high expectations, you'll hate it, plain and simple. But if you just want to watch a funny movie with some friends then definitely give this movie a chance! It's somewhat of a spoof on the "Paranormal Activity" films. Marlon Wayans plays the main character who buys a brand new video camera for the moving in of his girlfriend. He then gets camera's set up around his house for security purposes.

Right off the bat, his girlfriend suspects there's a ghost in the house and like in the "Paranormal" films he doesn't believe it. Some scenes are similar, but take a huge change and it becomes funny. Sure some of the jokes are over the top but for the most part, are hilarious.

Cedric the Entertainer makes an appearance towards the end of the film and his scenes are great. Bottom line, watch this movie to get a good laugh. 6/10 for exceeding my expectations.

I am giving this movie a "9". I loved this movie, every scene was hilarious. I don't understand why the movie critics are so critical of this movie, to me a "spoof" is just like "a roast" it is meant to be funny and sometimes delivered in a risqué manner. Bravo Marlon... You did a fantastic job with this. I can not wait to go see it again plus buy the movie when it comes out. Everyone in my party was laughing and still laughing today and we send it two days ago. I thought my boyfriend was going to pee his pants he was laughing so hard. The whole theater was cracking up. Go see it people, we need to laugh after all the craziness that has been going on this world we live in.

At first I thought it was going to be one of those unfunny. By all means it wasn't up there with Shaun of the dead or the likes but it was very funny in parts, even found myself laughing out loud. If you want a quick funny film to watch when the kids or your parents are not around then this is a good choice.

Expecting another spoof movie, which is was. However, unless you are in your mid 20's with a maturity of a 15 year old boy and wanted to see a move that you hope your parents do not find out about, this movie is just bad. I took my teenage son to this who has seen many the R-rated movie with me, but this was just too much.

Sex with his girlfriend - OK I guess. Naked girls cutting coke - Was this needed? Horny lesbian college friend - First time was enough. Maid getting it on with the gardener - give it a rest!!! Graphic sex with stuffed animals - really? Sex with ghosts - enough already!

All this movie turned out to be is sex joke after disgusting sex joke.

There should be more of a disclaimer then just the rated R.

I hit the theater a couple times a month. However, due to this movie I will do more research before seeing my next movie.

There were some funny moments (most can be seen in the trailer), but they went for the maximum gross-out/shock value too often, and then tried to milk these jokes for too long. There are a lot of funny ways you can spoof Paranormal Activity, and they only really nailed a couple of them. They also couldn't seem to decide whether the plot was supposed to be "believable" or a vehicle for spoofing the genre like Scary Movie, which I thought was a lot funnier. Cedric the Entertainer was the only supporting character that really stood out. Nick Swardson's character was annoying and not used effectively. It was good for a few laughs, but I wouldn't recommend paying to see it in the theater. Several parts were about as vulgar and disgusting as you will see in a wide release movie.