First of all, I have a soft spot for low-budget films and I tend to cut them a lot of slack when it comes to things like special effects, sound quality, film quality, and acting (to an extent). Typically my score for a low-budget film is about 1- or 2-stars higher than what most others would give.
This film follows a crew of frat bros who relocate their frat house to a spooky old Victorian with a gruesome past. Things quickly go awry after the bros make a series of prank calls using an old phone they find in the house.
The horror part of the film was pretty good, in my opinion. I was a fan of several of the sequences (especially with a ghost girl figure), and really liked the simple horror of the bros prank calling a young woman who then audibly freaks out at their threats. It does feel like the film is missing one more "action" type scene--there's maybe a bit too much sitting around and talking.
The comedy element of the film is okay. There are some funny lines (such as one bro randomly deciding that he wants to escape to an island to run a leather shop, "We'd make the finest belts" or something like that) and a few clunkers.
I think that the main issue with the film is that the acting is only decent. The main actors (all male) all have a really similar tone of speech and affect. There is a lot of flat delivery of dialogue and lines that should pop just don't. One or two scenes sound much better rehearsed than the others (such as a conversation/confessional between two of the bros toward the end of the movie), but it kind of throws into relief the flat affect of most of the acting.
I liked the concept and the setting of the film. It held my interest until the end. I would give this writer/director another chance. I wish that the acting had been stronger or more varied.
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