An anthology of a family’s eerie folklore comes to a grinding revelation in the new movie Hauntology. Released to VOD on September 17, 2024, through Gravitas Ventures, it is a spooky collection of stories that revolves around the Price Sister’s traumatic queer lineage in a small town. Jumping from person to person in a family tree of danger, this Horror flick feels like a night of homebrewed campfire tales that eerily find their way into the present-day lives of storytellers.
A Horror film that relies on suspense and psychological thrill over gore or jump scares, Hauntology has the right formula to create a spooky ambience and deliver the proper themes to haunt the viewer. One issue, however, is that the scariness feels juvenile at times. The first story could be an episode of Goosebumps with its feel-good story and subversive Horror. While the fear is cranked up as the anthology progresses, ending with the blood of the dead splattered on the living, it does not help the movie’s slow start.
Looking into everything further, Hauntology was written and directed by Parker Brennan who makes their feature-length film debut with this anthology. It is apparent that the essence of this director, who has made many short Horror films, still shines through in the anthology format of this film. The two main characters are the Price sisters. Samantha Russell (The Riddle of the Spider’s Web 2019, White Noise 2022) plays Jazmin Price, with Jaidyn Triplett (Family Reunion series, iCarly series) as her younger sister Venus Price.
Within the separate stories are myriad other actors including Samantha Robinson (Sugar Daddies 2014, The Love Witch 2016) and Nancy Loomis (Halloween 1978, The Fog 1980). With this all in mind, the film is not written for a single actor or actress to shine, but rather to show the haunting history of the Price family. Because of this, the ghosts of the past take the most profound roles in the film. Despite having no lines, these ghosts are what help to blend the stories into a complete anthology.
With a healthy amount of crossover plot devices between the stories, many callbacks, and some powerful foreshadowing, the separate eras in each story take place in helping to build the world the Jazz is speaking about without feeling too different and confusing. There is an easy-to-follow history being created that has memorable characters and intriguing segments which begs the question of why and how someone like Jazz knows her history so well. This is answered in an interesting way as the movie progresses and the folklore of the past seems to start following Jazz and Venus into their own lives, culminating in the final scenes which puts the traumatic underbelly of the Price family into a fight against their past.
However, something impossible to miss is the socially progressive themes being addressed in the movie. While this does not subtract from the movie story and some of the short stories use these themes to better progress them, it also feels forced at times especially when the characters have little chemistry like the gay couple in Paint and Black Lace. If this couple was changed to a heteronormative one, nothing would change, especially because, despite their role as main characters, they are not the focus of their story. This might help make the relationship more believable; specifically because at their most tender moment they go in for a kiss but awkwardly land at a hug, a weird moment that made us think they had no chemistry.
Overall, the acting in the movie is not entirely up to par; it feels unnatural in a few places resulting in an effect that takes the viewer out of the experience of watching. It loses the flow and causes the scenes to have awkward pacing. This could be a problem with the screenwriting which has definite issues with pacing and scripting. The characters stand still waiting for something to happen before speaking or in one case lie down awkwardly at a gravestone in wait. These points are clunky because they are not true to reality and rely on a guaranteed action in the future to be useful. In simple terms, many scenes are not effective and efficient, relying too much on the audience to believe in chance or crave suspense to craft the desired effect.
Overall, it is a low-budget scare with an interesting story that is at times harmed by the screenwriting. Hauntology is an entry-level scare film; nothing too intense and a good message at the end that feels deserved and impactful. For this reason, Cryptic Rock gives this film 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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