Dismayed by the waning integrity of his art form, Marlon Wayans launches new horror spoof A Haunted House

By Sean O'Neal | September 20, 2012 | 10:50pm

Aux Features Film

Watching bitterly as the Scary Movie franchise he founded has been diluted into a sloppy assemblage of dick jokes, winking cameos from tabloid stars, and scattershot, witless, instantly dated allusions to all manner of pop culture, rather than having all of that plus Marlon Wayans, Marlon Wayans has readied his own competing horror spoof film with the equally, agreeably banal title of A Haunted House to be released on January 11, right in the season of laughter. According to the press release, Wayans, Cedric The Entertainer, Essence Atkins, David Koechner, and Nick Swarsdon gathered together in one place with working cameras and read aloud the script for this "outrageous send up of the Paranormal Activity movies, The Devil Inside and other 'found footage' movies" that have for so long been begging for satirical treatment—or, failing that, a movie where Marlon Wayans makes goofy faces.

The framework for those goofy faces, or "story," concerns Wayans' attempt to rid his girlfriend of demonic possession with the help of "everyone from a priest to modern-day ghostbusters," with Wayans remaining "determined not to let the evil spirit ruin his relationship… or, more importantly, his sex life," as sex and guys always wanting to have it is a very funny premise for comedy. Imagine, if you will, Wayans wanting to have sex and his girlfriend responding, "No, I can't have sex—I'm a demon right now, like in those Paranormal Activity movies!" and you will surely see why the film's distributor Tom Ortenberg promises in a statement, "If you are looking to laugh uncontrollably, this movie will do it to you." Should you be looking to laugh in a more easily controlled manner, you should, in no uncertain terms, find some other movie to do that to you, as you will find only the purest distillation of the horror spoof art form here.