A seasonal haunted house attraction becomes the setting for real violence when a group of friends steps inside on Halloween night.

Haunt arrived in 2019 as a lean, effective entry in the home-invasion sub-genre that relocates the threat to a commercial Halloween maze. Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the film uses the trappings of a seasonal attraction to examine how easily performance can tip into predation. Its modest scale and focused cast allow the tension to build through practical staging rather than elaborate set pieces.

Seasonal Horror and the Commercialisation of Fear

Halloween attractions have long occupied a strange space in popular culture. They promise controlled scares while operating on the edge of public safety regulations. Haunt exploits this ambiguity by placing its protagonists inside a maze whose operators have removed every safeguard. The film draws on real-world reports of accidents at haunted houses to ground its premise in something recognisably mundane before the violence escalates.

The opening sequences establish the characters through everyday conversations about university life and failed relationships. This ordinary backdrop makes the subsequent shift into the maze more disorienting. Once inside, the group encounters rooms that appear to follow familiar horror tropes until the performers begin using genuine weapons.

Atmosphere Through Practical Design

Beck and Woods favour practical effects and tightly framed corridors over digital augmentation. The maze itself is constructed from shipping containers, chain-link fencing and salvaged carnival props. These materials create a claustrophobic environment where every turn feels improvised rather than designed for entertainment. Sound design emphasises the scrape of metal and the muffled voices of unseen operators, heightening the sense that the attraction has slipped its intended purpose.

Lighting remains deliberately inconsistent. Strobe effects and blacklights are deployed sparingly, forcing the viewer to strain alongside the characters. This approach avoids the polished aesthetic common in larger studio productions and instead recalls the rougher edges of 1980s slasher films that used real locations.

Director in the Spotlight

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods began their partnership while studying film at the University of Iowa. Their early short films explored confined spaces and miscommunication, themes that recur across their feature work. Before Haunt they wrote the screenplay for A Quiet Place, which demonstrated their skill at sustaining suspense with minimal dialogue. Haunt allowed them to direct for the first time, bringing the same economy of storytelling to a more overtly violent narrative.

Their filmography includes the 2021 science-fiction thriller A Quiet Place Part II and the 2023 survival film 65. Both projects retain the directors’ interest in ordinary people facing extraordinary pressure within restricted environments. Influences cited by the pair range from John Carpenter’s Halloween to the Italian giallo tradition, particularly the way those films combine everyday settings with sudden brutality.

Actor in the Spotlight

Katie Stevens portrays Harper, the central figure who organises the group’s night out. Stevens had previously appeared in the MTV series Faking It and the horror film Polaroid. In Haunt she balances vulnerability with resourcefulness, conveying Harper’s growing realisation that survival depends on rejecting the rules of the attraction. Her performance anchors the ensemble without overshadowing the supporting cast, which includes Will Brittain as Harper’s ex-boyfriend and Lauryn McClain as a friend who becomes separated early in the maze.

Stevens has spoken about the physical demands of filming in the actual maze sets, noting that the confined spaces required precise choreography to maintain tension across multiple takes. Her subsequent roles in The Bold Type and the 2024 film The Re-Education of Molly Singer show a continued movement between genre and mainstream projects.

Legacy and Influence

Released directly to streaming, Haunt found an audience seeking undemanding yet competent Halloween viewing. It contributed to a small wave of films that treat commercial attractions as sites of genuine danger, alongside titles such as Hell Fest. The directors’ later success with larger productions has prompted retrospective interest in Haunt as an early demonstration of their ability to work within tight budgets while preserving visual clarity.

The film also sits within a broader trend of 2010s horror that revisits slasher conventions without the ironic distance of the Scream series. Its straightforward approach to violence and its refusal to over-explain the operators’ motives align it more closely with 1970s and 1980s entries in the sub-genre.

Conclusion

Haunt succeeds by treating its central premise with seriousness rather than camp. The maze functions as both literal trap and metaphor for the commodification of fear, and the performances ground the escalating stakes in recognisable human reactions. While it may not redefine the sub-genre, it delivers a coherent and atmospheric experience that rewards repeat viewing for its technical economy.

Beck, S. and Woods, B. (2019) Haunt. Netflix.

Collis, C. (2019) ‘How A Quiet Place writers turned to directing with Haunt’, Entertainment Weekly, 12 September.

Harvey, D. (2019) ‘Film Review: Haunt’, Variety, 7 September.

Kermode, M. (2019) ‘Haunt review: a haunted house with bite’, The Guardian, 13 September.

McNary, D. (2018) ‘Netflix Picks Up Horror Film Haunt’, Variety, 12 December.

Stevens, K. (2019) Interviewed by Dread Central, 10 September.

Woods, B. and Beck, S. (2021) Commentary track on A Quiet Place Part II Blu-ray. Paramount.

Zinoman, J. (2019) ‘The return of the slasher film’, The New York Times, 20 October.

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