[kuroneko]

Just watched this on Netflix (finally). I was surprised I couldn't dig up a thread on it here on the forums.

I was so excited to see another documentary on haunters... A second chance to maybe show off that we all aren't completely crazy. Nope, it mainly focused on one crazy guy with his extreme home haunt and his singular obsession with creating his own torture porn. It goes out its way to show off that people who are into building haunts do it at the cost of their relationships and basically just do whatever they want no matter the cost. My husband walked in part of the way in and had to walk away it was so bad.
I get that not everyone has supportive spouses/family. I get that some people really like extreme stuff. I get that some of us are more hardcore than others (like the lady who went back to work the next night after suffering a severe back injury). BUT most of us aren't like that. Just once I would like to see a documentary about haunters that actually shows off how awesome we are. Show couples/families working together and they're actually happy, show haunts that take donations for food banks and animal shelters, show people that are mentally stable! We're not perfect, but most of us aren't terrible people either.
I wanted to like this just like I wanted to like The American Scream. I just can't. All the good things that are in these movies just get buried under the extremes of a single individual's unhealthy obsession. I just remember how miserable the family was in American Scream. Now all I'll remember about this movie is my (non-haunter, but super supportive) husband screaming about how "that isn't haunting! this isn't what haunters do!"

 

[The Joker]

"Haunters" was a horrific documentary. It was recommended by a friend and it made me think... what the hell do my friends think of me to recommend this??? Just terrible. You described it perfectly... "extreme home haunt and his singular obsession with creating his own torture porn"

I recommend a documentary done by the Travel Channel called "Halloween Tricked Out". It's a documentary of much more family-friendly haunts. They're not the scariest haunts, or even the best by any stretch, but it's a fun watch for the season. I couldn't find a full online version of it, but here is a short snippet of it on Youtube...

 

[matrixmom]

I saw it too. It was all about Mckamey Manor??? I kept watching and forwarding to see if Haunted Overload ever got a long interview too. Yeah, it was pretty one-sided and he's not so sick IMO, its the PEOPLE WHO PAY to go through this. What morons. The basic DNA gene of self-preservation is def turned off in these patrons. I wonder if Mr Mckamey would be good as a CIA operative trainee?? He could operate his haunt and serve his country as an extreme training for military.
As for Loganberry haunt, he says kids won't stop him. If he loves them, yes they will - at least for a couple of years. Trust me I know!!

 

[RCIAG]

I saw this one too & I just don't get it either.

I don't hate the guy or what he does, like you said it's the people that want this I don't understand. But if people are stupid enough to keep paying him money to do this then good for him.

All I know is that I don't want that experience & wouldn't even consider this as pat of my Halloween experience in any fashion.

I also wouldn't consider him a "home haunter" or his set-up a "haunt". I'd say he's giving them a potential "kidnapping torture experience" more than a Halloween/haunt experience.

 

[66539]

I think it speaks to the general nature of human nature that as a species we're not terribly interested in watching "normal". News has their motto, "if it bleeds it leads." Watch a slasher film from ten years ago and folks will say, "Oh, that wasn't even scary. I could tell those weren't real guts." It's all about amping up the experience. So, those of us who want to just show off a nice, normal haunt are going to be disappointed that we don't wind up on Netflix next to Patchwork and Final Destination: Part 53. On the plus side, we get kids laughing every year at our haunt instead of adults saying, "Oh, yeah, torture me until I vomit." I'm good with that.

 

[dane82]

I think it speaks to the general nature of human nature that as a species we're not terribly interested in watching "normal". News has their motto, "if it bleeds it leads." Watch a slasher film from ten years ago and folks will say, "Oh, that wasn't even scary. I could tell those weren't real guts." It's all about amping up the experience. So, those of us who want to just show off a nice, normal haunt are going to be disappointed that we don't wind up on Netflix next to Patchwork and Final Destination: Part 53. On the plus side, we get kids laughing every year at our haunt instead of adults saying, "Oh, yeah, torture me until I vomit." I'm good with that.

this. documentaries about ordinary, well-adjusted individuals with a reasonably normal hobby don't draw eyeballs, unfortunately.

 

[kuroneko]

"Haunters" was a horrific documentary. It was recommended by a friend and it made me think... what the hell do my friends think of me to recommend this??? Just terrible. You described it perfectly... "extreme home haunt and his singular obsession with creating his own torture porn"

I recommend a documentary done by the Travel Channel called "Halloween Tricked Out". It's a documentary of much more family-friendly haunts. They're not the scariest haunts, or even the best by any stretch, but it's a fun watch for the season. I couldn't find a full online version of it, but here is a short snippet of it on Youtube...

I think I've seen this one, but I'll try looking for it again. I really miss these types of shows. I remember the home decorating competition and a few that actually covered regular haunters. Now it's all Halloween Baking, Halloween Wars (which is just more baking with pumpkin carving), and Halloween specials of regular shows.

I think it speaks to the general nature of human nature that as a species we're not terribly interested in watching "normal". News has their motto, "if it bleeds it leads." Watch a slasher film from ten years ago and folks will say, "Oh, that wasn't even scary. I could tell those weren't real guts." It's all about amping up the experience. So, those of us who want to just show off a nice, normal haunt are going to be disappointed that we don't wind up on Netflix next to Patchwork and Final Destination: Part 53. On the plus side, we get kids laughing every year at our haunt instead of adults saying, "Oh, yeah, torture me until I vomit." I'm good with that.

I get it, but it still sucks that they have to show the worst just to get views. I had a few people comment that my yard wasn't as good/scary this year. I didn't care because there were tons more that enjoyed it. I did scale back for personal reasons, but it's not like I felt I had to explain it to anyone. I just wish that documentaries showed a wider range of haunters and not focus so much on the one guy with the most extreme thing going on.

 

[Ladyfrog]

Travel Channel has a few decent shows about various haunts around the country. They show them every year but I can't remember what the names are. Thank you for saving me the annoyance of watching this on Netflix! Maybe we need to make our own documentary?

 

[wolfncrowlane]

Completely agree. I like American Scream more, just because it felt a little more balanced (and I didn't feel like the marketing and title misled me :/ ) but I usually just watch the parts that are specifically about working on the haunt or the Halloween night montage. It's especially frustrating for me as a woman because even though my husband and I are both into home haunting, I'm usually the one mapping things out/doing most of the crafting, and there seems to be a a preference in a lot of these documentaries on the men that are driving their wives crazy/the wives that aren't interested or are helping out but only cause they have to.

It's probably why Monsters Wanted is my favorite haunt related documentary so far, even tho it's just about one haunt and the haunt is a professional one, not a home haunt. Recently my husband and I did watch a doc called 'Spookers' I think? Which was about a professional, year round haunt in New Zealand. It was a little weird at times but also really fascinating and interesting.

 

[halloween71]

There use to be one on fear net called route 666 with Danielle Harris.Several of our members were on that.But its not on anymore and you really cant find clips of it either.Davisgraveyard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Opb4eed97Q

 

[halloween71]

wish it was still on.

 

[Cephus404]

I hated American Scream because like most other pseudo-documentaries, it focuses on people with serious psychological problems and implies that's how home haunters work. If it's not an accurate representation, it's not a documentary. I don't watch documentaries to be entertained, I watch them to be informed.

 

[ThinBlueLineHaunter]

I know this is an old thread but.....