Since watching it with my friends at our annual Scary Movie Marathon years ago, The Houses October Built has been one of my favorite found footage horror films, perfectly encapsulating the "wait, is this real?" vibe of The Blair Witch Project and infusing it into the world of real-life scare attractions throughout autumnal America. This year marks one decade since The Houses October Built was released, and its approach to immersive horror is even more timely now that when it first graced screens back in 2014 and introduced viewers to Brandy, Zack, Bobby, Mikey, and Jeff, a quintet of thrill-seekers filming a documentary on haunted attractions who gradually get pulled into the wicked web of Blue Skeleton: a haunt that is extremely immersive and more real than they could ever imagine.
But that is only one iteration of the film that many horror fans like myself know and love. There is another version—the original version—that until recently hadn't been seen publicly since Shockfest in 2011. Built as more of a straightforward and thought-provoking (and still very chilling at times) documentary of haunted attractions and the scare actors and owners who bring them to life every year, The Houses October Built – Original Version is now streaming on Shudder as the perfect Halloween treat for longtime fans of this franchise and newcomers alike, and I had the great pleasure of talking with director/co-writer/star Bobby Roe and co-writer/star Zack Andrews to reflect on the original version of The Houses October Built, including how it compares to the 2014 edition, the organic process of filming the original cut, their favorite memories from making the first film, as well as their hopes for the future of The Houses October Built franchise!
You can watch our in-depth chat below, and be sure to visit Shudder to watch The Houses October Built – Original Version and other frightfully festive films this fall!
The Houses October Built – Original Version: "Looking for a good fright for Halloween, five friends set off on a road trip to discover the scariest underground haunts. As their trip appears to reach a dead-end, whispers of a haunt like no other draws them to the darkest corners of haunted attractions.
The original, unreleased 2011 haunted house documentary that went on to inspire the cult theatrical release of the same name. THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT – ORIGINAL VERSION goes deeper behind the scenes of extreme Halloween haunted attractions, introducing an entirely new narrative and unexpected conclusion."
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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