I chose this one as it is based on an H. P. Lovecraft short story of the same name. The story itself is quite short and does not lend itself well to the big screen, so its plot has been adjusted (rather drastically) to fit the "teenagers trapped in a haunted mansion" mold in order to give the movie's creators an excuse to include nudity. At least that is what I will assume. The result is decently suspenseful and a bit frightening, and actually made for a pretty good movie.
Meet our hero, Randolph Carter:
In the original short story, Carter exists as a stand-in for Lovecraft himself. He serves a similar purpose here for the first half, telling the other character that they're crazy if they think he's going into that haunted house because he knows about stuff. Then, completely out of nowhere, he changes his mind and goes there anyway. All while listing the reasons why the other characters are stupid. To be fair to him, though, all of the other characters are pretty stupid. I mean, there's some sort of horrible unicorn-devil running around a haunted house, cutting people's heads off and generally being a dick, and you think your best course of action is to constantly shout other characters' names? Sorry, you deserve death.
I said above that the movie was pretty good, but you know what? It probably wasn't. The end of the movie is terrible. The best part about the ending is that Carter saves the day via a potent combination of reading and cross-referencing. Now, I like reading and cross-referencing as much as the next library school student (i.e. more than most people), but even I know this is a crappy way to end a horror movie. That wasn't even the worst thing about the movie, though. The worst part was the stupid frat boy's flashlight. Seriously, it was like a box with light shining out of one end. I tried to find a picture of it, but I can't. You'll never know my pain.
Also, there's a sequel. I think I'll have to check that out.
I almost forgot! I mention the unicorn-devil look of the monster above and I wasn't joking:
Check out those awesome furry boots. Looks like something out of Second Life.
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