The American Scream

Michael Stephenson's 2012 documentary follows three families in a small town in Massachusetts. Every year they turn their homes into haunted houses; the documentary follows the process from planning to opening day. What is interesting is how seriously the pursuit is taken. Months of preparation, money set aside from the household budget and nights spent in the garage sit inside the narrative; nobody describes it as a hobby. Stephenson does not compare the three families or mock them. Each began for different reasons and the narrative gives them equal seriousness; the person who seems strangest carries the film's most affecting section. Who it's for: those who like American small-town culture and documentaries about obsession. Who it's not for: viewers expecting horror; the film is about building haunted houses, not about frightening anyone.