Following up on 2024’s The Ceremony is About to Begin, Sean Nichols Lynch returns with This House is Totally Haunted, a film that doesn’t just subvert the genre’s rigid rulebook; it gleefully takes a sledgehammer to it.
The premise hits the ground running when a cryptic letter from “Surviving in Shasta” lands on the lap of This Podcast is Totally Haunted hosts Lex Wyatt (Alex Berg), spirit medium Claire Young (Kari Noelle) and videographer Hal Hetzler (Lynch). Drawn to the remote Northern California woods, the team meets Andy (Chad Westbrook Hinds)—a twitchy, desperate soul begging them to rid his secluded home of the evil lurking inside. Andy claims he just wants the ghosts gone so he can finally get a good night’s sleep. But as the cameras roll and the seconds tick by, it quickly becomes apparent that something far more insidious is afoot. Toss in Andy’s strange manservant, Mr. Evans (John Laird) and a mysterious “ailing mother” tucked away upstairs and you have a powder keg waiting to blow.
If The Ceremony is About to Begin laid the groundwork, This House is Totally Haunted goes straight for the jugular, largely thanks to Chad Westbrook Hinds. Found footage isn’t historically known for powerhouse acting, but Hinds shatters that ceiling entirely.
Playing Andy (spoiler warning: AKA Anubis), Hinds delivers a towering, unhinged performance that balances a childlike innocence with a savagely brutal edge. He’s the kind of antagonist you can’t take your eyes off as he has a strange, dark charm that makes you feel like you’ve known him your whole life but you’ve always known there’s just something off.
What is happening in the house? Is it spirits invading AI graphic design? Is it a Blood Feast gone viral Egyptian sacrifice? A cult? Ghosts? A ghost with a knife? You’ll find out and you won’t be ready for it.
I had so much fun with this and was actually glad I didn’t see the original, as I went in cold. Now, it’s time to go back and watch that movie!
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