Three YouTube ghost hunters investigate a haunted house in the terrible found footage House on Eden, written, directed, and starring Kris Collins.
Warning: While I normally avoid giving details, I do so here. At least “these things happen, or don’t,” and why it makes the movie a chore. Read on with caution. I’d say wait until after you watch it. But you shouldn’t watch it. It’ll just make you mad.
House on Eden is a trite nothing. It’s a collection of half-thought-out ideas, poor acting and writing, whiffs all scare sequences, and is ultimately an atrocious film. I’m sorry, Kris Collins. As the writer-producer-director-star, along with your friends, I know you put in the work, and I appreciate the DIY nature. But it doesn’t come together in any capable manner. Collins and her co-stars, Celina Myers and Jason-Christopher Mayer, are all successful and entertaining YouTube paranormal investigators; unfortunately, the skill there doesn’t transfer to film here.
True Crime and Ghost Investigation podcasts and YouTube channels are popular. They get followers, visit interesting locations, build lore, and often present some great stuff. If I may plug my friends Gabi and Kim: their Ghoulish Tendencies covers both. I know them from the ghost investigation group we’re all a part of here in Seattle. It’s an awesome show, listen! I love the paranormal, so my brushing off of the characters and their actions in House of Eden is not a dig on the hobby. I love to visit places, especially (semi-)abandoned ones, and talk to myself in the dark, hoping for an answer when I play back. I digress.
I even like found footage films. Of which this is. But strangely feels like one from just after they became popular. As if Collins watched Blair Witch and the St. Francisville Experiment and immediately fell into a coma for 25 years, woke up, and made this movie.
If you didn’t know that it’s found footage going in, you will instantly. The worst shaky cam to ever shaky cam threatens nausea for the first 40 minutes. As our leads (all annoying and seem to barely like one another and seem to be terrible at their job), trapse through the woods, looking for the House on Eden, they aim their cameras every which way but where they should. Those of us of a certain age may recall when The Blair Witch Project was released; folks complained about the way the camera moved. It was rather shaky, but culture overblew it. House on Eden is actually as all over the place as BWP is joked to be, bouncing and jostling. There is an interesting idea of several types of cameras: modern 4k, 2000s Handicam, and Super 8mm are used. Cutting between the cameras is a bit jarring, but it kept me engaged enough. More than the content for sure. Nothing comes of it. – I thought the different cameras show different things, but they’re not used for anything special. Just another indicator of “maybe this will be cool” without the thought of how it fits in a narrative.
Luckily, the camera settles down after they find the house. A beautiful mansion in the middle of the woods. I note its beauty as it’s obviously an in-use historical location. Pristine. This is eventually mentioned at the very end, but until then, it’s mighty annoying to hear “abandoned” over and over (prepare for many repeated lines, the “Adlibbing but don’t know how” type). There, they perform their investigation. Sometimes weird stuff happens. But every time it looks like a scene may be building, it stops all momentum. There’s no building between the scenes, increasing the tension. Everything could be cut or rearranged with little bearing. There is one jump scare that lands, but it’s a fake-out. So, boo.
House of Eden may be the most half-assed movie I’ve seen in a long time. No idea is committed to. Nothing adds up. Nothing comes to bear. It’s a hodgepodge of half-thought-out ideas. The entirety of the first 40 minutes doesn’t make a dent in the semblance of a plot. House of Eden is 75 minutes long. An audience member can arrive over halfway into that tiny runtime and miss nothing. Except for the nausea of the walk. A weird cabin found during said walk? Nothing of it. Is what happening a ghost? Who? People? Who keeps the house? Who are the others we see? What happened during the blackout? Was this a setup? I was constantly thinking, “Okay, where is this going? What’s the point?”
It can be said that this movie was never meant to get to where it is, playing on the big screen before premiering on Shudder. It was made by YouTube/TikTokers for their channel, a little thing to shoot off over a week on a budget of chewing gum and pocket lint. But that’s not an excuse. I watch a metric butt-ton of shorts for Crypticon Seattle programming that shine from a dime. The Battery cost 10,000 and is astounding. Evil Dead was made by pure force of will. Heck, the mentioned Blair Witch Project used a tiny budget for big effect (it has detractors, but I’m not one of them). That’s the same excuse for dismissing shoddy animated films: “it’s for kids.” You made it, put effort in.
It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the year pans out. Though I have seen many films I’ve not liked, House of Eden was by far the worst I’ve watched out of the 100, as of July 31st, 2025, films I’ve had the pleasure to sit through. Will something dig deeper than House of Eden? Only time will tell.