I’m dealing with no screenings. I’m not dealing well. So, why not throw money at streaming services that are showing stuff that was in the theaters before we all went on lockdown? Here’s my brief – because I’m in Home Mode y’all – look at Haunt!

An excellent creepy horror house/haunt film that doesn’t switch up any tropes, but plays exceedingly well with the ones Hollywood’s already got. You know the drill; college-somethings go searching for something to do on Halloween. One turn taken by chance gets them to a “Haunted House” that’s a whole lot more than they’d bargained for.

At a sneeze over an hour and a half, Haunt is just the right length to keep the tension and terror on high. As our kinda-intrepid crew of college undergrads get picked off one by one, I was impressed with the level of intelligence this crew possessed. A sub-plot involving one of the girls’ abusive boyfriends gets a quick but satisfying payoff, as you’d assume it would with the character coming fully into the story at the climax. No, not a spoiler; y’all know how slasher movies work. This ain’t news.

There’s a nice blend of spooky lighting and just-gory-enough onscreen effects. Sure there’s some brief CGI “blood” that pulled me out of the movie for a split second, but otherwise? Damn that’s some good FX.

If you’re into music at all, you’ll let the credits roll all the way through. Why? Because you’ll be gifted an incredible alt folk cover of White Zombie’s “Dragula”. No, it’s actually really good. Don’t make that face, it’ll freeze that way.