Horror spoof ‘A Haunted House’ gets bulldozed by critics

Last week horror film “Texas Chainsaw 3D” scared up $21 million in the first week of the new year. This week another horror-esque film is making its way to theaters and based on today’s opening round of reviews and latest box office projections the odds are strong it won’t repeat that feat.

The “Scary Movie” franchise promised “no mercy, no shame, no sequel.” Clearly that last part was a lie as the series’ fifth installment is due out this year. Now producers have gone back to the well in another way with “A Haunted House,” which spoofs “Paranormal Activity” and the entire genre in general.

Starring Marlon Wayans (who also co-wrote the film), “House” centers on a pair of newlyweds who begin to realize they aren’t alone in their new house and try to rid themselves of the problem. Yet while this type of satire-based film is a tried and true method, critics are uniting to bash the picture. Film review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes (at time of publishing) had barely found ANY positive reviews. However they didn’t have any trouble finding a negative one.

“Mean-spirited, badly made and unfunny is one set of disasters; adding in storytelling incompetence adds to the catastrophe.” James Rocchi – MSN

“Wayans probably hasn’t matured beyond snickering every time he said director Michael Tiddes’ name on the set.” Roger Moore, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Yet the best one comes from a moviegoer who was less than pleased with the feature.

“I saw people walking out of a FREE advance screening of this movie. Enough said.”

Still this is an odd time of the year where film-goers tastes has seen to have shifts. In the past this has been a virtual dead zone where audiences could either go see an expanding Oscar film or a warmed over holiday tentpole. Now it’s changed a little bit and today’s early tracking has revealed “House” could actually make upwards of $10-$12 million and considering this couldn't have been that expensive of a picture to make it could actually turn a profit.

So what’s your take New York? Will you check out the film? Hit the comments and let us know. Remember, don’t forget to subscribe to this column for all of the latest news about the winter movie season.