Review of 8213: Gacy House (2010) by John Joseph M — 04 Mar 2011

Yet another "found footage" flick, and nearly the same film as Paranormal Activity. Actually, I liked 8213 a bit better, as director Fankhauser is smart enough to populate it with more than two characters and so not be forced to leave all the real action until the very last scene. Of course, I absolutely hated Paranormal Activity, so it's not saying much that I liked this flick more. I like stubbing my toe more than I liked Paranormal Activity.

Here, a team of ghost hunters decides to investigate the paranormal activities in a house built on the site where John Wayne Gacey's house once stood. This house, built in 1979 and abandoned a few years later, looks suspiciously older than it's supposed to, but OK, it's only a movie. Still, it would have been helpful if the house used in the film actually looked abandoned. Instead, it looks like we're just inside someone's very well-kept house. For a place that's supposed to have been abandoned for 25+ years, the place is immaculate -- probably better tended than my own place! The ghost of John Gacey clearly has a maid service coming in at least once a week.

Anyhow, the investigators include an irritating white light witchy woman who holds a seance, the team gets what they were looking for and things don't go too well. Nothing terribly imaginative happens; we see researchers get tossed through the air, stabbed in a fake breast (an occasion for the most extreme close-up of goosepimpled boob skin in z-flick history), and have their pants pulled down. The ghost is mainly seen in the form of shadows and vague hints of something there (like, you know, doors slamming and chandeliers swinging) until the very end, which is a slightly better ending than Paranormal Activity but still not particularly creative or... well... interesting. Neither is the acting. There are one or two effective moments early on, but for the most part you've seen it all before if you can avoid the shaky-cam inspired motion sickness.

Despite its name and setting, this is a rather generic ghost story. It's Paranormal Activity meets The House on Haunted Hill. It's also very, very forgettable.