My interest in Blackout began with a party conversation.  At an event earlier this month, a dear friend and I were chatting it up with Oren Peli about haunted attractions.  It’s that time of year, after all, and Los Angeles tends to be inundated with Halloween-themed hayrides, mazes and similarly-themed events.  During that discussion, the Blackout Haunted House was brought up and, with it, tales of experiences - from those who visited the New York City location - that made me and my guest both incredibly nervous and fascinated.

Cut to a few weeks later and I’m holding tickets for the Los Angeles chapter of Blackout, a walk-through fright maze that is some “next level” stuff as far as the haunted attraction experience is concerned.  

Blackout eschews the traditional ghosts ‘n goblins that populate the likes of the Halloween Horror Nights or Knott’s Scary Farm theme parks.  The threat here is very much human.  The dangers are intense and aggressive.  And if one needed to compare Blackout to any cinematic horrors, Hostel or The Game would be go-to titles to dial up. 

This is a maze with big, nasty teeth and it's one that’s not for the easily offended.

Someone needs to tell Ken Foree that he doesn’t need to do every horror movie that comes his way and more importantly, that not every zombie movie is written and directed by George Romero. Unfortunately, for the horror legend, he seemed unaware of these two things when he signed onto the 2009 Serbian horror, Zone of the Dead (released in the U.S./UK as Apocalypse of the Dead), and the end result is an unintentionally cheesy film that fails and tries too hard at paying homage to past zombie classics.

The film follows a rookie detective, Agent Mina Milius (Kristina Klebe), as she embarks on her first field assignment to transport a prisoner along with her fellow Interpol agents, including Mortimer Reyes (Foree). Like anyone’s first day at work, things go horrible awry for the self-conscious officer and her company, and they find themselves stranded in a town where a deadly plague has caused locals to die and come back to life. The group soon realizes that they are in a fight for their lives and their only ally is the prisoner they have in captivity. Dun dun dun.

Does director Darren Lynn Bousman sleep? Since 2010 the prolific filmmaker has helmed Mother’s Day, 11-11-11, The Barrens and The Devil’s Carnival (plus Ninety is in the pipeline). His post-Saw sequel career certainly hasn’t been predictable or dull even if the quality of the films is varied. 

For The Devil’s Carnival, Bousman reunited with his Repo! The Genetic Opera writer Terrance Zdunich. The duo has concocted an aggressively bizarre musical that is slight but entertaining. The arresting images and chaotic storytelling are perfectly matched with the madcap songs. It makes for an intoxicating combination.

The story begins with God (Paul Sorvino) casting three lost souls out of heaven. John (Sean Patrick Flanery) is a father grieving over his lost son; Tamara (Jessica Lowndes) is a young woman in some sort of abusive relationship; and Ms. Merrywood (Briana Evigan) is a kleptomaniac. Each is about to lose their life. John is slitting his wrists while Tamara is going to be shot by an abusive boyfriend. Ms. Merrywood finds herself in a home surrounded by the police after stealing some jewelry. 

If abandoned buildings were as dangerous in real life as they are in horror movies, they would be responsible for more annual deaths than heart disease, cancer, and auto accidents combined. It is time to call a moratorium. For a period of at least two years, no more movies about young people exploring long-empty (and supposedly haunted) hospitals or houses or factories or buildings of any kind. Maybe then someone will be ready to offer a fresh perspective. 

Greystone Park certainly has nothing new or interesting to offer. It could have been written by a computer program. It is vapid and feels mechanical, cobbled together from other sources in the hope that enough horror fans will check it out of curiosity so a few people can make a buck. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

Halloween is just a few weeks away which means it's time for another inexpensive way to make money by releasing a low-budget movie with a familiar name that casual horror fans will flock to for equally cheap scares and thrills. For that crowd, it really doesn't matter what we say about the fourth installment of the Paranormal Activity movie, which is probably about as review-proof as those Twilight movies, but unfortunately, it's the first installment that outright fails.

When Catfish directors Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost were brought on for the third movie, a prequel that flashed back to the '80s, it seemed like an odd choice but they really stepped things up with some original visual ideas while building on the mythos of the demon that's been plaguing Katie Featherston and those around her for two previous movies.

Holliston follows Adam and Joe, struggling horror filmmakers and best friends in the Massachusetts town of Holliston. The pair work for a local cable channel, making terrible commercials. Adam is struggling to get over his college girlfriend, years after their breakup.

I watched Holliston during its original run of FEARnet and a second time to refresh my memory for the review. I was surprised to find that I actually liked it more the second time. FEARnet has done well with their first original series.

Holliston is clever. Most of the dialogue is great ("We met at a charity function that she was heading up for children with bad cancer.").