Review: A Haunted House
By Christine Petralia





Image courtesy of Open Road Films
January 13, 2013
To quote Marlon Wayans when he was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, A Haunted House is what happens if Paranormal Activity was about black people.
In his first attempt without his family, Wayans co-wrote and starred in this spoof of all of those Paranormal films. And unfortunately, it fell short somewhere in the middle.
He started off strong with the jokes and laughs as his character Malcolm explains to the camera that he’s moving in with his girlfriend Kisha (Essence Atkins) for the first time. As strange things start to happen, there seems to be an explanation for each one of them, such as Rosa the maid making noise in the middle of the night. However, after installing more cameras around the house and bringing in a psychic, the pair learns that a spirit does, in fact, live in the house. At first, Malcolm, in a really funny scene, wants to move, as he states black people don’t need to be around ghosts, but they can’t move in this market. So, they decide to stay and even attempt to make friends with the ghost. But, in the end, and after ‘raping’ each of them in the middle of the night, the ghost takes over Kisha’s body.
Malcolm, in an attempt to save her, hires a ghost hunter, the physic and a priest to exorcise the demon out of her. The end, unfortunately, is very similar to the first Paranormal Activity and doesn’t really draw too many laughs.
As I said, the movie starts out strong with the laughs, including a scene where Malcolm shows the camera his sex moves with a stuffed animal and the scene with Kisha farting in her sleep. And the scene where Kisha, Malcolm and the ghost get high is pretty funny. Rosa the maid slightly stole the show for a bit. But the laughs stop somewhere in the middle when Kisha actually gets possessed. And even though some of the scenes where the group tries to catch her and get rid of the demon are slightly funny, it does fall short. And the running theme of their swinger friends could probably have been a little bit funnier. I was disappointed with the ending though. I felt the film was just Paranormal Activity with jokes when I walked out.
It is filled with bodily function and gay jokes. And it is very similar to Scary Movie franchise, as that is what the Wayans brothers are known for. I would say for his first attempt by himself, it wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t worth the money we spent in the theater.
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