Corey (Sarah Booth) and Elaina (Kimberly-Sue Murray) invite their
former sorority sisters to a party at the scarehouse they have just set up
on their own ... but it soon becomes clear that they are not exatly in a
celebratory mood when they tie up their first guest, Emily (Dani Barker),
a girl so obsessed with getting thinner that she made throwing up a daily
routine - and then they tie her corset so tight it almost cuts her in two
... They treat their next guests Shelby (Teagan Vincze), Katrina (Emily
Alatalo) and Caitlin (Ivana Stojanovic) pretty much alike and lock Lisa
(Jennifer Miller) up in the basement. But why do they do all that? Because
when they were pledges, the sorority sisters sent them on a dare to drug a
guy (Brad Everett) and put him into drag to make selfies with him to shame
him all over the internet - it just didn't work that way, the drugs killed
the guy, and Corey and Elaina were convicted and incarcerated for
involuntary manslaughter (but released after two years on good behaviour)
- and now they just want their revenge. But for the finale they have kept
Jaqueline (Katherine Barrell), president of the sorority as well as a
pious pastor's daughter and big time hippocrite, in solitary for five days
to break her spirit and get a confession out of her - but she's not one to
easily be broken, plus Lisa locked up in the basement is a tough as nails
girl to break out and put up a fight rather than just run. But as we
approach the showdown, it becomes increasingly murky who the baddies of
the piece might be ... Now The Scarehouse is definitely
not for the faint-hearted - every now and again, the blood flows freely,
and guts (or breast implants) come flying deliberately. Plus, this is a
film that's really creative in its ways to depict violence and death. But
despite its rather brutal and explicit approach, I'd be hard-pressed to
label The Scarehouse torture porn - rather it has a fun factor to
it that was pretty much a given in 80's horror but has gone amiss in
today's mainstream productions by and large. Plus, while the film's deeply
rooted in genre traditions, it does not at all follow a formula but
reveals pieces of its backstory only by and by without presenting us with
a ready-made heroine, and for a change, we are allowed to have sympathy
with the villains - even if their methods are over the top. And add to
that an atmospheric directorial effort, a (not only for a film of this
ilk) really good cast, led by Sarah Booth as a really disturbing psycho
bitch, and an actual scarehouse (the Scarehouse Windsor) adding
great backdrops (= production value) to the proceedings, and you come up
with one of the most entertaining indie horrors of the last few years. Recommended!
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