31 Days of Horror: ‘Treehouse’ Review

Treehouse is a really enjoyable horror with an interesting premise, it really is, but that ending just plain sucked!

I had to skip right to the end, to get the important thing out the way, to warn you that Treehouse is worth watching, but you will get angry because of the final two minutes. I don’t know if there was a rush to get the final moments in, a lost bet which meant the filmmakers had no choice but to include such a shoddy ending or just poor judgement. The idea of a lost bet would have been quite a cool back story for the film, but I think it was sadly the latter.

After an immensely impressive and creepy opening scene, it’s refreshing to see a character in a horror using their head in a situation when someone might be in your house, but it’s a slow stroll downhill.

When two children go missing in West Lake, America, the town goes on lock-down, cancelling the annual Halloween fair and placing a curfew. From the passing comments of the Police sergeant, this has happened before which explains the town’s proficiency in handling the manner. Two brothers, Crawford (Daniel Fredrick) and Killian (J. Michael Trautmann) have a plan to go into some big scary woods just on the outskirts of town with their friends for the night. The friends, however, flake, leaving the brothers alone in the woods on Halloween, to which they stumble across a tree house and discover one of the missing people, Elizabeth (Dana Melanie).

Initially, the film doesn’t give in to clichés and you get a sense of hope that it might be a recurring theme for this film. Sadly, it isn’t. It’s more the final act of the film that begins to really dip, up until then it’s a enjoyable experience but horror cliches take over, with character logic especially going out the window. At times you simply can’t help but think “Oh come on, this guy’s a fucking idiot”, when it comes to the film’s hopeless lead, Killian.

Horror logic has a mind of its own, it’s how the story is able to move forward when generally it simply couldn’t. Logic like, specific to this film, we’re being chased by a group of maniacs through a big open, lonely wooded area and we’ve found ONE lone house in the woods, we should go in there and hide, it definitely doesn’t belong to the maniacs!. I guess while Treehouse starts off suspenseful, creepy and with a decent set up, you still need to leave a little at the door in terms of logic and reality.

There’s definitely room for this to scare and excite this Halloween, but for anyone looking for more substance, sadly the film will fall at the wayside half way through and the final two-five minutes (I lost track of time) will blow your mind, in the worst possibly way. You’ll simply find yourself wondering “Wtf happened to the film I started watching an hour and a half ago?” It’s hard to actually describe what happens in those final two minutes without feeling a burning rage deep in your stomach. Quite possibly one if the strangest film endings I’ve seen, and not in the sense that it gets crazy, in the sense that the tone and dialogue and just everything which made the film enjoyable in the beginning turns instantly on its head. It’s hard to decide whether the writers suddenly handed the ending over to someone else or we’re simply smacked over the head and confused for the final five pages, but it does not work and instantly taints your feelings on the film.

Aside from that, and an unfortunate dream sequence, it’ll be a pleasant surprise this Halloween. Hell, you may think twice about going into the woods where monsters lurk in dark places.

Rating: A nice effort, but too much momentum out of the gates leaves Treehouse falling at the final hurdle (5/10).