Such a frustrating disappointment

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The first 'The Houses October Built' blew me away back in 2014. I went in with almost zero expectations and left astonished by how good it was. Did I have my hopes up for the sequel being able to live up to that same level? No, they almost never do after all particularly in the horror genre. Did I hope for more quality than I got though? Absolutely, this was bordering on one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. Does it detract from what the original put forward? Unfortunately yes it does in a big way.By about the 1 hour 15 minute mark I thought to myself: has anything actually happened yet? The answer was no. Sure we had seen some fun haunted houses (or hay rides apparently) and there was the weirdly edited shots of the clown masked guy following them, however this felt more like a documentary to that point than anything else. It was filler, plain and simple. It's absolutely unacceptable for a horror movie to run for an hour and 40 minutes with that little happening in the opening 75 minutes. No excuse for that whatsoever.Then the big final sequence (or the pay off if you wish to call it that) begins and I think to myself: this better bloody be worth it. Well let me assure you it wasn't. It was poorly done, predictable and thought it was a hell of a lot smarter than it actually was. The editing was also very poor in that final sequence. Possibly the best done scene in the entire film was the very final one with the sign, however that had basically nothing to do with the film, so bravo. Please stay away from this film. Not only is it terrible, there's a very good chance it will ruin the original for you too. Yuck.

Despite its shortcomings, I found a certain level of enjoyment in the first film. What it lacked, it made up for in effectively capturing the Halloween spirit. The concept of an October road trip with a group of friends looking to seek out the best/most extreme backwoods haunted houses made for a great premise. However, the sequel fails to deliver on the aspects that made the first film entertaining. The entire film comes off like someone's holiday travel vlog. The "haunts" they attend cover everything from a 5K run to a food eating contest, they mostly feel like filler. There is an attempt to incorporate drone footage but it's completely unnecessary and poorly implemented. I also question a lot of the editing, particularly near the end. Much of the burden falls on the plot, probably the weakest part of the entire film. While the first movie's plot was simple and worked as a one-off, the second film finds the same characters essentially re- hashing the first plot but with the temptation of profiting this time around. The lone female character, "Brandy" goes from being completely freaked out by briefly seeing the familiar blue skeleton mask on a man in one of the haunted houses, to perfectly fine with wandering into the abandoned site of "Hellbent." This is even after they were gassed and driven to the location unbeknownst to them. Like I originally stated, for me, its biggest failure is the lack of Halloween spirit. Without it, in my opinion, there's not much here to enjoy.

This has to be the worst sequel to a movie of all time. I started this account so I could comment on how bad this movie is. I enjoyed the first one. The follow up is a boring piece of crap. Do not waste any time watching it. Horrible. Horrible. How this production was even given money to be made is beyond me.

I really liked the first one but this one is crap in comparison. No scares, AT ALL, unless maybe you are 10, home alone with it storming outside and all the lights out, even then I doubt it.Look at some of my other recommendations by clicking on my username and navigating to my horror movie ratings. This one is a PASS for sure.