- Directed by Stephen Cognetti
- Written by Stephen Cognetti
- Stars Bridget Rose Perrotta, Destiny Leilani Brown, James Liddell, Gideon Berger
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 38 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_HLcTY15WY
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The film starts with spoilers at the beginning, done as a faux documentary. Then we get to see the events that led up to there. The first half is best, with it slowing down a bit in the last half, but overall, it was put together well. There are some good creepy moments. It’s worth a watch if you’re a found footage fan.
Synopsis
We open with an interview show, talking about the Carmichael family and their home. Catherine and Eleanor Carmichael were murdered, and the father, Arthur, and son, Patrick, went missing suddenly. One sister, Margaret, was killed in a traffic accident when Patrick was driving. The house is now said to be haunted. Margot Bentley and Rebecca Vickers were the first people really allowed inside afterward. Their bodies were found a week later, but they left four nights of very strange video. Credits roll.
We flash back to Margot and Rebecca on the road heading to Carmichael House. They record everything for their website. The caretaker, Donald, lets them inside and shows them around. The house is very remote, and none of the Carmichael heirs want to live there. Donald tells them again about the history of the Carmichaels and the various fates of the family. He tells them to check out the local antique store, which sells things that were recovered from the old Abaddon Hotel, which has since burned to the ground thirty years ago.
The girls open up a locked storage room, and it has a couple of very weird clown statues inside. Chase, Margot’s brother, arrives to help with the filming.
The first night, the three go over the specifics of the murders. They all assume that Arthur killed Patrick and hid the body, then went back for the women. We are told that Chase recently went missing, and Margot only invited him along to keep an eye on him. Late at night, they hear singing downstairs.
The next day, we watch Rebecca make a nice, clean bed, and then we see a glimpse of a bloody, dead body in it. The girls go shopping and leave Chase there alone. Margot finds a lot more weird clown stuff before they go. Chase then acts up for the camera, and we see that he thinks he’s a comedian.
The girls go to the antique store. The owner shows them the things from the Abaddon Hotel. Inside an old grandfather clock, they find (and steal) some film and records from the disaster. Meanwhile, Chase hears and sees a few things back at the big house. He later shows the two girls the footage, and they’re all convinced.
They send the film off to Bradley, one of the guys who survived and is being interviewed for the documentary. We get to see some home movie footage of the Carmichaels just before Margaret died in the accident. On the second night, they read through the Abaddon notes. They find a red ball, or maybe a clown’s nose, in the hallway.
The next day, Rebecca calls in for work via Zoom, and they talk. She shows a presentation of Real Estate photos, but a lot of the photos are of Carmichael House, and it’s not supposed to. It seems to be photos being taken right now by someone in the room with her.
On the third night, Margot looks at old photos of the clown costumes that are on the mannequins upstairs. This house and the Abaddon Hotel. The clown statues are in places they shouldn’t be, which freaks out everyone. Chase explains that he had a psychotic incident, which is why his mother sent him along on this little vacation.
Chase hears someone knocking at the door, but there’s nobody there. Later, someone opens his door, and he sees one of the clowns in there. He’s had enough and tells the clown that they’re leaving now. He tries to get away, and his camera goes dead at that point.
We see some more of Carmichael footage, as Patrick and Catherine talk about bringing Margaret back from the dead. We go back to the interviewers who talk about Mr. Tully, the original clown who built the Abaddon, where Patrick Carmichael used to work.
Rebecca and Margot argue about whether or not they should leave and abandon Chase, who disappeared sometime last night. They wait for him until the afternoon and then decide to go to the police, except the car doesn’t start. They decide to walk to town, but it’s miles of back roads and paths to get there.
They walk through the bright, sunny woods, and they pass various creepy-looking structures. Suddenly, they hear screams in the woods. They see some black-clad people out there, maybe cultists. They run back to the Carmichael house and go back inside.
There’s lots of screaming and arguing as Margot and Rebecca fight over whose fault this all is. Margot gets a text from Chase, who says he met some new friends; they want to meet Margot. The bedroom door opens, and they both run out to their car.
Back to the old film footage. Patrick returns home after the mass suicide Abaddon disaster, and he’s very creepy about it. Catherine starts seeing weirdness and cultists inside the house.
Outside, the cultists surround Margot’s car, and the two girls run back into the house. They hear Chase calling, but he’s not quite right anymore. The clowns are moving now, and it’s soon all over.
Commentary
It’s a found-footage movie. It’s really dragged out and long. The first half is atmospheric and well done, but somewhere around the time that Chase disappears, it really starts slowing down.
It’s fine. Not great, but if you’re into creepy haunted house stories, this is one of them.