For such a cheaply made, no-budget movie, HauntedWeen is at least entertaining for the most part. Acting, as expected, is about as bad as it gets at times with most of the cast either striking a chord somewhere between flat and monotone or so overly enthusiastic as to appear subhuman.

Some good kill scenes, effects, and setups that reminded me of newer films such as Hell Fest and Haunt. It's not a movie that anyone needs to be in a great hurry to see, but it kept me entertained.

I loved Haunted Ween and saw glorious torture and deaths of fraternity and sorority students by another deranged psycho. Decent fraternity brothers and sisters are out for honest fund raising and celebrate hard. I thought the show was low budget as well as the generic actors but enjoyed the somewhat humorous approach that the story took. At least the ending is destructive to everybody. This movie fades in memory, at least mine, like slashers movies going by the wayside. I recommend showing your support by booing the villain's antics and not go into shock caused from the indifference shown by the group being slaughtered! People who love silly morbidity should like this film.

The nineties certainly didn't begin with a bang for the slasher genre, which had to be expected after its prolific population of horror cinema throughout the previous decade. Censorship restrictions and an extreme lack of any originality meant that the category had become a dumping ground for low-budget and low-quality independent movies that had somewhat lost the allure that made them so popular ten years earlier. It is widely considered that the last glory year was 1988, which saw the dying breath of the cycle unleash fairly intriguing titles like: Maniac Cop, Intruder, Evil Dead Trap and Edge of the Axe. From then on it was a downward spiral into mediocrity as throwaways like Frat Fright, Deliver us from Evil, Mirage and Live Girls put the final nails in the coffin. Hauntedween was another feature from the 'lost years' – a term that describes the gap between 1988 and the Scream rebirth in 1996. It has become so extraordinarily rare that many people regard it as a true cult classic. It also holds a huge fan base in Bowling Green, Kentucky, because it was filmed on location using local folk as extras.

In the prologue the camera heads along a country road that leads to a haunted house. There's a young child at the gate collecting the entrance fee from revellers that all comment on his dime store Halloween mask. Eddie Burber looks like a great prospect to become a junior serial slasher, mainly because he doesn't speak too much and as we all know REAL bogeymen are inexplicably muted. The point is proved when he enters the house of horror and chases a young girl until she ends up impaled on a bizarrely misplaced spike. Accidents do happen, but that can't be the excuse for young Eddie. He confirms his murderous intent by finishing the job with a huge machete that he seemed to conjure up from thin air. He escapes the scene of the crime and heads back home to his momma who informs him that they're going to have to go away for a while.

Twenty years down the line, we bump into the fully-grown Eddie and his mom living at a secluded ranch. Whilst chopping some firewood with a huge axe that I presume will play a part later in the feature, his mother drops to the floor, seemingly suffering from the most unconvincing heart attack ever filmed. The faceless bogeyman picks up the corpse of his parent and tells her "It's time to go home". Reguaws, Kentucky hasn't changed much over two decades, except now there's a new gang of thirty-year-old students in the Topshill State College. They're struggling with the threat of having their Sigma Pi fraternity closed if they can't come up with 37, 000 dollars in the next couple of weeks. Despite some bemusing moneymaking plans that include car washing (I know, I estimate that they'd have to scrub about 20, 000 cars!?), they settle with the idea of a haunted house at the home of the murderous child from the prologue. We all know how much Eddie enjoys attending these occasions, and he doesn't disappoint when he turns up with a creepy mask and a few maniacal tricks up his sleeves…

When reviewing a small production like this you have to take into account the meagre budget and inexperienced crew, which probably amounted to little more than a few men and a dog. Hauntedween is as subtly tongue in cheek as the incriminating title would lead you to believe. Although director Doug Robertson wisely avoided making this a rancid horror/comedy, he instead included bizarrely goofy characters that succeed only in stretching your patience. The signature comic relief guy sports the most unconvincing Southern accent since Annabelle Branford tried to get one over on Brett Maverick. There's also an 'English Rose' that's sounds about as Britannic as a Hot Dog on Super bowl Sunday. The heavily peroxided blonde lead may well be a cyborg, as she seems unable to portray any type of emotion. She also boasted a dodgy vocal twang, which left me waiting for the inevitable Hollywood 'Oirishman to complete the fake accent trophy cabinet. Fortunately, Robertson didn't stoop that low.

When the killer starts his rampage, he proves to be a real showman by murdering victims in front of a baying crowd that believe they're watching a 'theatrical performance'. Luckily for him he can keep up the act without any fringe of suspicion, as the special effects are as hokey as a Rolex on a backstreet market stall. There's a silly decapitation and little more than a half a dozen victims that all die extremely uninspiring deaths. But still it would be unfair to be too hard on the crew behind Hauntedween. Despite the similarities in the title and the overused masked killer storyline, it does at least TRY to add a little spice to the formula. It's just a shame that the glaring inexperience shines too brightly in the leading cast members. In fact the only people that look convincing are the numerous local extras that seem to be having the time of their life, especially the 'Mad Doctor' (Michael Switsgable).

So Hauntedween is yet another 'Cult Classic' that fails to live up to its status. One has to wonder what happened to the sequel that was promised in the closing credits. Perhaps common sense prevailed…?