Delve in the scare scene this Halloween as we bring you our UK Haunters review.
Back in October 2017 Jon Schnitzer brought us the absolutely outstanding Haunters.
A documentary series going into the heart of US scare attractions from the humble independent haunts up to the giant Universal style horror mazes.
The documentary was breathtaking and with such high profile names a part of the show it certainly wrapped up what was the perfect Halloween documentary programme.
With UK Haunters out now on Amazon, the question remains.
Can the Brits create a documentary just as good?
Let’s find out shall we?
In the opening sequence of the film we’re asked what exactly is a Haunter?
Well, for those who don’t know a haunter it’s someone who entertains, loves to take people out of their comfort zone and someone who can immerse a guest within a horror environment.
A haunt on the other hand is a maze or attraction where haunters reside to jump out at you and scare you.
Some mazes are simple tame walkthroughs using theming, jump scares and narrow corridors to scare you whilst other haunts take things much further including physical contact, kidnap scenarios and more sinister ways of scaring you.
Director Dan Brownlie takes a variety of UK haunts and lays them on the table for us to almost pick and choose like they’re contained within a sick and twisted pick and mix machine.
With a strong heavy metal soundtrack Uk Haunters certainly puts you in the mood of getting absolutely mental and experiencing all that UK Halloween haunts has to offer.
The documentary is shot in very indie handheld style with professional documentary style interview set-ups intertwined between.
Throughout the doc we’re introduced to various faces within the haunters community including Andy Rawlings who works in London as a scare actor and John Harris who is the founder of Broadditch Farm Haunt Fest.
It’s here that we have the wonderful balance between actor and organiser.
From this introductory segment we can get a perspective of what it’s like to scare people in contrast to John’s perspective of making mazes, planning sets, auditions and all the behind the scenes work.
The only issue with John’s segment is that all the aspects of building a maze, set design, set detail and everything that makes a haunt look good is sadly cast aside and downgraded into a 60 second segment.
A real shame to see as this is an area of appreciation within the haunt community on equal par with that of the actors that make the mazes so special.
To be condensed into a 60 second segment to never return again was sad to see but I thought this overall combination of actor and organiser worked well.
We got both perspectives of the haunt community and this helped the documentary to flow allowing the audience to see the bigger picture rather than a one sided story.
Whilst the majority of the documentary does feel well edited a few little name titles and ‘editor notes’ look as though they were done on iMovie or similar.
It’s only in these little areas does the documentary feel ‘low budget’ with its VLOG style but for the majority the feature is quite a polished little article despite clear budget restrictions.
Whilst balancing some solid interview footage with an almost grind house style of haunt exploration you can overlook the ‘bargain bucket’ feel that the documentary has at times.
What I thought was a nice touch was the introduction of Rick Jones of Horrify Me.
A photographer and make-up artist who turns his customers into horror icons.
Inspired by Tom Savini Rick loves to indulge in the gorier side of things with the application of latex, fake blood and even mud to achieve his desired effect of terror.
This segment added a third dimension that I didn’t even realise I wanted to see but I’m glad I did!
It was great to go behind the mind of someone who would create these creatures and to see the various projects that he has been a part of.
From this point Dan Brownlie himself gets the Horrify Me treatment as he is transformed into a scare actor.
As we see Dan going under the proverbial knife we can get a good idea of the work and artistry that goes into creating these ‘creatures’.
It’s 30 minutes into this documentary that I feel as though i’ve seen it all.
A masterful opening 30 minutes that gripped my attention but what follows sadly fades into the ether.
As we pass the 30-minute mark there’s a line that certainly rings true with me as I’m watching UK Haunters:
“People want to be scared, but people also want a story and you have to find the balance between that.”
This particular line was contained within a segment about UK scare attraction Death Cell and up until this point, the entire documentary has felt like more ‘story’ than ‘scary’.
The show itself still hasn’t found that perfect balance as a whole and whilst the other segments have breezed past and been enjoyable the Deathcell segment certainly just felt like I was being read a press release of what the maze is, what the story is and this is what happens inside.
It went on far too long dragging out the self-promotion and then it hit me.
We haven’t seen much in the way of scares as of yet.
We’ve been fed stories upon stories which are great for context but not great for those who paid for this documentary wanting to see inside mazes, how things work in mazes, how actors are positioned, how sets are designed, and numerous other sections of what make haunts so appealing.
We had glimpses of set design at Broadditch Farm but the second it came on it was gone again.
This for me is what separates UK Haunters from the US version.
The US version was well rounded and kept your attention throughout mixing it up but at times throughout UK Haunters the documentary stalls and even at some stages drags on.
It goes from a very solid documentary one minute to a boring, dragged out TV rambling documentary the next with the audience being fed information without actually experiencing or seeing the mazes or context behind what is being spoken.
Arguably the most exciting bits (for me) of what haunts are all about have been left out of this documentary!
UK Haunters feels like we’ve gone behind the scenes of production yet a giant curtain is covering up all the good bits and instead we just have people talking to us about what is hidden behind that very curtain.
It’s at the 30-minute mark where the documentary seems to go downhill.
We had the beautiful blend of various segments that make a scare attraction great and now would be the perfect time to explore some of the best UK mazes in extensive detail but sadly this does not come to fruition.
The documentary hits a wall and with every minute that ticks away my attention span starts to dip.
UK Haunters doesn’t provide us with any new information, you certainly won’t learn anything new if you’ve visited scare mazes before which is a shame but it certainly feels as though the show should have been split into episodic segments.
A segment exploring make-up for 20 minutes, a segment exploring set design for 20 minutes, a segment exploring actors and actor placement within mazes for 20 minutes would be more easily digestible without the need to add filler interviews and irrelevant chit chat to fill in the gaps.
As the documentary progresses the chit chat that in the beginning provided value now starts to evolve into over-embellished storytime.
Towards the end of UK Haunters we see producer Jessica braving some of the mazes.
A saving grace as the documentary draws to a conclusion.
This footage looked like it would be perfect to spread out throughout the documentary to keep the viewers occupied.
Having Jessica brave each maze or experience before every interview segment or deconstruction would have perfectly balanced out this rather uneven affair.
It was by far the most entertaining footage within the documentary and was thoroughly enjoyable to watch whilst also getting a taste for what haunts are all about.
Fun is what an audience wants to see, the thrill of a haunt in addition to the behind the scenes segments, perfectly combined and working together.
If you want more of a storytime style experience of haunts then UK Haunters is certainly the one to watch with incredibly detailed accounts for those with more patience than myself.
Dan within the documentary says that UK haunts are ‘on par’ with the US haunts and whilst I admire that good old British pride you only have to look at the detail of theming, time of construction and level of effort that goes into just Halloween Horror Nights to know that there is absolutely no bloody competition between the two countries.
There’s a level of quality in the UK haunt scene that is incredibly admirable but on that step up is the Americans, they just go the extra mile in everything that they do.
If you want a balls to the walls Haunt documentary experience that brings everything to the table then I’d certainly take that extra step up.
The Americans did it best with Haunters and they won’t be beaten anytime soon.
Our Rating
Summary
Sadly a documentary too overly promotional for the various scare attractions contained within without any context or excitement being brought forward to a watching audience past the opening 30 minutes.
UK Haunters definitely brings an insightful view of this wonderful horror community but lacks in what makes that community so special.
For the majority of the documentary the fun, the joy and the thrill of what makes haunts so appealing is sadly cast aside for chit chat and press release style marketing.
