Well-versed in parody titles such as the limp Scary Movies series, Marlon Wayans writes and stars in A Haunted House, another lame-brained skit of the Paranormal Activity films and Exorcist-themed recent releases.
Lifting its setup directly from Oren Peli’s surprise box-office smash, Wayans stars as Malcolm, a man that decides to record his life as his girlfriend Kisha (Essence Atkins) moves in with him, much to the disgruntlement of Malcolm’s ‘creepy’ housekeeper Rosa (Marlene Forte) and with dire warnings from friends that his sex life is about to dry up. It doesn’t take long before a ghost makes its presence known in Malcolm’s house and so the hilarity begins … right?
Wrong. Wayans has always had a penchant for lowest common denominator humour. Be it gross-out or plain sexist, homophobic or racist. Though clearly a talented performer (remember him in Darren Aronofsky’s Requeim for a Dream?), Wayans’s script is never truly inventive and rarely raises a laugh unless one is amused at sexist, homophobic or racist jokes.
A Haunted House even takes the time to produce gags about people with learning disabilities and most deplorably, to play rape for laughs. At just one hour and 26 minutes, the film wrings out as much mileage as it can from a found-footage parody by stretching a premise to unsatisfying limits. However, though New Empress cannot recommend A Haunted House on any level, there is A Haunted House 2 to already look forward to in 2014. There are clearly people that enjoy this sort of film, and that’s truly diabolical.
Mairéad has awarded A Haunted House one Torch of Truth
