MPAA: R.
Release Date: 07/25/25 [Cinemas]
Genre: Horror.

Studio: RLJE Films. Shudder.

THE PREMISE:

"Setting out to film their next paranormal investigation, Kris, Celina and Jay encounter a malevolent, ancient spirit that resides in an abandoned house deep in the woods." 

OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

House on Eden had my interest… a found footage horror film anchoring off the real life personalities of its two leads Kris Collins and Celina Myers. While I’ve recently become quite the fan of Collins and her YouTube career, I’m a little less family with her creative partner Myers. Nonetheless, even with being a fan of Collins’ work, I had never before seen either of them in this world of ghosthunting. 

The film plays to all the familiarities of a found footage film of the 90s/early 00s and has plenty of sharp cuts to black to string together scenes. Many of these cuts have such a nostalgic vibrancy to them, especially just after a joke doesn’t quite land or something spooky is starting to occur. 

Filmed with handheld, older cameras to give the film a more “retro” feel - the film does appear to replicate the style of filmmaking in The Blair Witch Project, mixed with the underrated Grave Encounters. The classic found footage appeal really provides a charge of horrifying energy that will get you through a majority of the film - especially as the cracks begin to show and House on Eden crumbles away. 

House on Eden tackles two ghosthunters, Kris and Celina and their producer/cameraman Jay as they decide to investigate a house that had no internet presence as of yet. Known as “The House on Eden”, it takes quite some time for the hunters to find their way off the beaten path to their home for the night. The house, a classic looking haunted abode, isn’t the best explored - with most ghost hunting shows (a favorite of mine being Ghost Files), they typically show every prominent room, crack and crevice in the haunted locale so you know where a noise may be coming from. At times this house appears to have extra rooms that spring up out of nowhere and an attic that has never been mentioned prior to its appearance in the film - of course the scariest things are always in an attic or a basement (horror logic). 

Sitting at 77 minutes, the film surprisingly takes its time with far too many supposed “inside jokes” that fall extremely flat. When the atmosphere fully absorbed the screen, true chills started running down my spine and whenever a ghostly image would occur - that immediately got me on edge. One scene in particular involving cat balls had my nerves on end until the scene suddenly cuts off. 

The first act is far too long of a setup, the second act is almost non-existent and the third act just goes entirely off the rails with exposition dumps, haunting images for the sake of proposed horror and characters being taken away off screen. While the beginning does get drawn out, it has a sense of intrigue, but when that last ten or so minutes kick in… it’ll leave you confused and a little drained from the experience. If the YouTube talents of RackRacka can produce two overwhelming hits in the horror community - Talk to Me and Bring Her Back - hopes should have been reasonably high that CallMeKris and CelinaSpookyBoo could create something special in the horror space as well. House on Eden is not that film.