8213: Gacy House - only mildly entertaining at best.

I'll admit, I jumped a few times during this movie. It managed to surprise and startle me a couple of times and for that I can't condemn it totally. A team of Paranormal Investigators set out on a mission to investigate a house built on the land where John Wayne Gacy's house once stood. It is weird the way the movie is set-up and frankly, just a tad confusing.

The House Story Confusion

The Story of the infamous site (8213 West Summerdale Des Plaines Illinois) is mostly true. The house where Gacy tortured and killed his victims was destroyed and ultimately torn down, remained a vacant lot for several years, but was eventually purchased and a new house built. The movie goes one step further adding a bit more  - the house is abandoned by the new owners within three years of purchase and the site stood vacant thereafter. Here is where it loses a little credibility, the producer and cast seem to forget and keep commenting on how old the house is. To me an old house is 100 or more years old. They want you to believe the house is old to make the movie scarier - but hello we are not talking about the original house - you told us so in the beginning. Moving on from that the rest of the story is a bit more consistent. Lost footage (we have seen this be equally ineffective before - Blair Witch), recovered by the police department, when they are called out to the site and find the bodies of the six members of the investigative team.

I was able to get past the aforementioned storyline boo boo. I admit, it would be creepy to be on that land, period. It is made worse by the Psychic/Witch Janilla Penslo (Diana Terranova) supposedly hired by the crew to assist in the investigation. The group start out led by a series of protection spells, these are rather creepy, followed by a seance to contact the spirit of Gacy. I feel this lends a bit more credibility to the film though. A shirt from a teen boy is used as an offering. It's a disturbing scene to watch, particularly if, like myself you are superstitious about seances or for those who are religious and hold certain values that would place this behavior in the dangerous category. I will give credit here for effort, a little out there but effective in setting the tone for the movie. The paranormal event's start out slow and escalate right up until the movie's overdone ending.

For what is supposed to be lost footage, it isn't too grainy. There are times when the camera moves quick and we lose focus but it isn't overly distracting and or annoying. There is good set-up and added Drama at the very end. Although it can lack focus in parts and get downright corny, the veiwer is caught off guard in places. Even though I knew the outcome from the begining I didin't know the details leading up to the ending which didn't turn me totally off. This movie was just slightly more credibile than some of it's peers because of the seance and conjuring that goes on.

Overall

I would give this film a rating of between 2.5 and 3 stars. It wasn't a total waste of 85 Minutes, it had some decent special effects and was not loaded with gore. It didn't scare me, but I found it a little disturbing and a few parts managed to startle me.