The parody is a lost art form. While it still exists, it is no longer the witty rib on the subject material it was when films like "The Naked Gun," "Airplane" and even the first "Scary Movie" came out. There's no wit or bite to them, they are just "let's make this look like the subject we are lampooning, throw in a Kardashian reference and then a fart sound." "A Haunted House" is basically an unofficial Scary Movie sequel/spin-off that parodies the "found footage" genre—a genre that is already a joke and readily parodies itself by making each and every one of the films the same over and over again. The film sees Malcolm (Marlon Wayans) and his girlfriend Kisha (Essence Atkins) move in together in a house that is basically an amalgam of the first two houses in the "Paranormal Activity" franchise. After Kisha suspects some paranormal presences in the home, Malcolm invites a security man (David Koechner) to install cameras and a psychic (Nick Swardson) to "read" the house. Pretty soon the hauntings start to get more frequent and violent until the demon ultimately possesses Kisha. And somewhere during this, I guess there are some jokes and gags.
This film feels less like a parody of the "Paranormal Activity" films during much of its running length and more like a potential spin-off of the series. For nearly the first half-hour of the film, the movie is set-up just like every other "PA" film with Malcolm getting a camera and becoming increasingly (and very unhealthily) obsessed with filming every aspect of their daily lives until the first moments of a haunting start--and then he gets MORE cameras! There might have been some jokes in the form of Wayans hamming it up for the camera but, for the most part, these sequences were just as inane and as boring as the opening to any typical "found footage" film.
Once the jokes and the "humor" actually starts, I found I was just as silent and as stoic as I was during the first part of the film. All the jokes come from either bottom of the barrel fart and private part jokes, parodies of sequences from the "found footage" films they are mocking that are just shoe-horned into the story (and when they don't feel completely out of place, are just painfully unfunny) and argument-style banter between characters that are overflowing with pop culture metaphors and stereotypes that are more annoying than humorous. In fact, most of the film is taking references, stereotypes and parody sequences and beating them over and over again till they are no longer recognizable as a potentially comedic scene and just become grating and hard to sit through.
Really, everything about this is predictable and cliché with no real breaths of fresh air placed in it. Occasionally, I found myself laughing but, in all honesty, I laughed only twice at something Marlon Wayans did and the rest of the time I was just silent.
Marlon gives off some straight-laced performances but they are just lost in a string of nonsense from those around him and performances that reek of the scenery that Koechner,Swardson and Cedric the Entertainer just chewed on. The rest of the cast look like they were just goofing around on set, trying to amuse each other, and the director just said, "Cut, we'll work with that." However,everyone pales in comparison with the really, truly, immensely awful performance of Essence Atkins. Atkins is just hard to watch. She pretty much overacts every scene she's in to the point it's like watching a person parody the parody that they are performing in. Even Swardson looked somewhat decent compared to her.
Shockingly, however, I was really impressed with the film's effects. The haunting sequences look really good and are about on par with anything seen in the "Activity" films. However, this doesn't make the film funnier, it only makes it look more like a spin-off of the franchise.
"A Haunted House" is, plain and simple, not funny. The two amusing moments it did present to me did nothing to allow the classification of this movie as a comedy or even a well-thought out parody/satire. The film feels less like a comedy and more like a collection of YouTube videos of people using their camera phones to make poorly feathered out "Paranormal Activity" send ups. This movie is proof that the art of the parody is not an easy one and just doing some poop jokes in a scene that looks like the scene from the movie you are mocking doesn't constitute a parody.
This film feels less like a parody of the "Paranormal Activity" films during much of its running length and more like a potential spin-off of the series. For nearly the first half-hour of the film, the movie is set-up just like every other "PA" film with Malcolm getting a camera and becoming increasingly (and very unhealthily) obsessed with filming every aspect of their daily lives until the first moments of a haunting start--and then he gets MORE cameras! There might have been some jokes in the form of Wayans hamming it up for the camera but, for the most part, these sequences were just as inane and as boring as the opening to any typical "found footage" film.
Once the jokes and the "humor" actually starts, I found I was just as silent and as stoic as I was during the first part of the film. All the jokes come from either bottom of the barrel fart and private part jokes, parodies of sequences from the "found footage" films they are mocking that are just shoe-horned into the story (and when they don't feel completely out of place, are just painfully unfunny) and argument-style banter between characters that are overflowing with pop culture metaphors and stereotypes that are more annoying than humorous. In fact, most of the film is taking references, stereotypes and parody sequences and beating them over and over again till they are no longer recognizable as a potentially comedic scene and just become grating and hard to sit through.
Really, everything about this is predictable and cliché with no real breaths of fresh air placed in it. Occasionally, I found myself laughing but, in all honesty, I laughed only twice at something Marlon Wayans did and the rest of the time I was just silent.
Marlon gives off some straight-laced performances but they are just lost in a string of nonsense from those around him and performances that reek of the scenery that Koechner,Swardson and Cedric the Entertainer just chewed on. The rest of the cast look like they were just goofing around on set, trying to amuse each other, and the director just said, "Cut, we'll work with that." However,everyone pales in comparison with the really, truly, immensely awful performance of Essence Atkins. Atkins is just hard to watch. She pretty much overacts every scene she's in to the point it's like watching a person parody the parody that they are performing in. Even Swardson looked somewhat decent compared to her.
Shockingly, however, I was really impressed with the film's effects. The haunting sequences look really good and are about on par with anything seen in the "Activity" films. However, this doesn't make the film funnier, it only makes it look more like a spin-off of the franchise.
"A Haunted House" is, plain and simple, not funny. The two amusing moments it did present to me did nothing to allow the classification of this movie as a comedy or even a well-thought out parody/satire. The film feels less like a comedy and more like a collection of YouTube videos of people using their camera phones to make poorly feathered out "Paranormal Activity" send ups. This movie is proof that the art of the parody is not an easy one and just doing some poop jokes in a scene that looks like the scene from the movie you are mocking doesn't constitute a parody.