8213: Gacy House (2010) Reviews

• Imagine the dullest episode of "Paranormal State" combined with the worst "Most Haunted"...

  prettyh2011-02-28

  Why, oh, why did I not read any reviews before carelessly putting this into my rental queue?? Please do yourselves a service and don't make the same mistake I did. This isn't even worth a chuckle. Apparently this is, in fact, "Paranormal Entity 2." I didn't see the first one; to read about it, we're led to believe it's infinitely duller and more derivative of "Paranormal Activity" and others of that ilk than we could've possibly imagined. I believe it. And wouldn't you know it? The opening screen tells us that this is "found footage" on the body of a victim, and "it has been edited into a narrative" to tell us what happened and why there's only a videotape left. Even the font is the same as "PA" and "PA2." The time stamps. Ev-er-y-thing. The plot is more or less already outlined in the basic summary here. A bunch of "researchers"/ghost hunters decide to spend a night at 8213 Summerdale, which used to be where John Wayne Gacy's house stood. That house was torn down after 26 bodies were found in his basement, but apparently someone built a new house on the lot once Gacy had been executed. Now it's supposedly a hot spot for all sorts of paranormal shenanigans, so naturally a crack team of pseudo-scientists, cameramen and pretty blonde college students feel compelled to go there in hopes of communicating with Gacy's spirit. There's really not much else I can say, plot-wise. If you've ever seen an episode of "Most Haunted" or "Paranormal State" on TV - or if you've so much as seen a commercial for them - you already know what happens. Things go bump in the night, everyone thinks one member of the team must be making those noises just to freak the others out, then something else happens (lights flicker! doors open and close by themselves! they check the camera footage!) which convinces everyone... Etcetera. For 85 long minutes. There's no gore to speak of; there are no legitimate scares whatsoever. There are night vision cameras in empty rooms. There's a medium-type to bless the house and ask that they be kept safe while they attempt to chat up ol' John. (They even bring in a "pure, white t-shirt" belonging to an adolescent boy to try to tempt Gacy's spirit out of hiding. Yes. Really.) The few "special effects" at the "climax" are beyond lame. There is a lot of hysterical running around because someone saw a shadow, or the fireplace made a banging sound. For eighty. five. minutes. I am all for a low-budget, clever little popcorn horror film. I'm not a horror snob. I don't need art-house subtitles or buckets of blood or a high-concept twist ending or a "Hostel"-esque torture theme to be scared. What I DO need is a character who's even remotely interesting, or something that doesn't look like it would've failed as a high school drama project. This couldn't pass the muster. ANY muster. I bet you can guess the ending. You've seen it dozens of times before, but done far better. Really and truly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Take my word for it: if you spend one minute guessing how it all turns out, and the other 84 minutes doing anything BUT watching this...thing...you'll be a much less resentful person for it. Can you tell I'm bitter? I have nobody to blame but myself! But if I save JUST ONE of you from wasting those precious minutes... Nah, I'll still be ticked off.

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• Meh, wasn't THAT bad

  kitsuneeight2011-07-09

  Is the "haunted house/Paranormal Activity/Blair Witch" thing a bit over done these days? Yeah. But me being interested in serial killers, this one kinda had me throughout. First off, you got a guy that looks like McLovin in this, two fairly attractive blondes (one for the fans of busty girls and one for the more modest type) and the main actor looks like that guy from Kangaroo Jack. I loved the comparisons for everyone. It does do the kinda lame thing where nothing happens for a while and then the predicable shock happens, but what horror/thriller movie doesn't? On that note, I think this is more of a thriller than a true horror. If you have a scary ghost movie, of course there's going to be the creepy basement scenes-plenty to offer, and scenes where you say to the character "Dude...you really just went there alone? *Sigh* See you in the sequel." lol Okay, so the actors aren't the best, the camera work is a bit shoddy, but it's a fun movie to watch with a group of friends and a few beverages. Just have an open mind, expect nothing, lights off, and hit play.

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• Not the best, but not the worst either...

  cecilliawhite2011-04-27

  8213: Gacy House is what the back of the movie case says it is; no hidden perks. You are told from the very start that the movie is made in narrative form, so if you aren't a fan of that sort of movies, then you will already dislike this one (in my opinion). I know a lot of the reviews here say how crappy this film is, and the ratings on IMDb show that, but I rated on a different factor. In my opinion, this movie was made really well, as in: even though it switches camera angles a million times (from hand-held to stationary), it looks very clean and smooth. I've seen many movies where the story line was superb but the camera was crap - for this film, it is completely opposite. Now having said that, it was still a decent movie, and if watched under the right mindset / conditions, you will likely find some sort of enjoyment out of it. Don't watch it expecting it to be the best film you've ever seen, but likewise, don't watch it already thinking you will hate it. Go in with an open mind and unbiased eyes, and just take it for what it is.

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• This Movie is one of the worst movies I have ever seen!!

  marcel-965-4415802011-02-11

  I watched Paranormal Activity 1 and 2. I have to say that Paranormal Activity is far far better than this cheap production. The Actors are so bad but I kind of liked the Story or the script, but they did not do it well. I do not want to start with the Effects that they put in the movie, they were so lame. Those effects could do a five year old on a computer with a little bit knowledge of Video editing program's. I almost felt a sleep in this movie. I would not recommend anyone to watch this movie. It is a waste of time that I wasted for 90 minutes. No one will give me those 90 minutes back. Do not watch this movie, I mean it!

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• Don't believe all the negative reviews

  Bob_the_Hobo2011-05-13

  Gacy House probably deserves more of a 7 or 8 but I'll give it 10 to measure out the negative reviews, which the film in no way deserves. It serves it purpose and is a good film that stands out among the latest God-awful horror films. Gacy House is a pretty typical story, a group of people go to a supposedly haunted house to find out if it's haunted, sure enough, it is and the group is terrified by things that go bump in the night. I'm not a producer of the film, check my other reviews if you want. I just enjoyed Gacy House, I liked its simplicity. Shock factor comes from classic jumps; the person in front of the camera, the shadows and the characters reactions to these scares. I have to say, suspense is built extremely well through frequent returns to the cameras set up around the house. Acting is fine, half are very good, such as the leader of the team and the older professor accompanying them, and the rest are fine. Nothing really special but it's okay. The script is written well, a couple of scenes that aren't necessary but several that are really well done. Give it a try, if the first half doesn't catch you I doubt the rest of it will. All in all, a fun horror film that I enjoyed.

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