House on Eden(2025)(Review) - Gruesome Gazette

It’s an exciting time in the horror world for many reasons. But one specific trend that has fascinated me recently is the number of successful YouTube content creators who go on to make feature films. Over the last few years we’ve seen some real standouts like the Philippou brothers (Talk to Me, Bring Her Back) and Curry Barker (Milk & Serial), and even some promising future releases such as Kane Parsons’ ‘The Backrooms’. So when I heard the word that three popular ghost-oriented YouTubers were releasing a found footage film onto Shudder, I was very excited to check it out.

‘House on Eden’ stars real-life vloggers Kris (KallMeKris), Celina (CelinaSpookyBoo), and Jason (JayJayMayEdits) as they venture out to film their next paranormal investigation. Kris surprises them with the reveal of a mystery location that has never been investigated before, but has promising rumors on very specific online forums. The location in question is the titular “House on Eden”, which is located in the center of some very deep woods. The layout of the film is as you’d expect, an active investigation that gets surprising results.

Much like their investigation, this film was rather surprising. Albeit… not for good reasons. It’s extremely simple in it’s setup, which isn’t usually an issue in itself, but it entirely depends on what else happens beyond that framework. But unfortunately, this movie is just boring all the way through. There’s only a few moments of actual spooky things happening on screen, it’s very typical and predictable, and just doesn’t do anything that makes it stand out. Minus the ending, it really looks and plays out just like a normal paranormal investigation show you’d see on A&E or SyFy. The lack of innovation, lack of excitement, lack of real intrigue, and lack of any real identity – outside of the three characters being popular vloggers – really just makes this feel like almost any other random Found Footage flick you’d put on Tubi.

To be my bluntest and meanest about it, this is the actual inverse of ‘The Blair Witch Project’. Three people get lost in the woods and enter a home where something malignant lurks within. However, in the ‘Blair Witch’, they’re lost in the woods for 90% of the it and the final 10% in the house are a devastatingly haunting finale. Whereas in ‘House on Eden’, we spend 10% of it in the creepy woods and spend 90% of it in a very well-lit house. What makes ‘Blair Witch’ work so well is the dread, tension, and mystery that build up the entire time we’re in the woods that then explode once we enter the house. ‘Eden’ has us walk through the woods to get the house, and never again really utilize them except for one 10-minute scene afterwards, and so our time in the house REALLY needs to keep us tense and afraid. And it really does not except for a few random chunks.

Fuck, even finding a picture for the thumbnail was a challenge since there’s hardly anything interesting happening on screen.

Of course though, I do try to find things to like about any film I see. Especially when I was already excited before I started it. The location itself is a very beautiful home in the middle of a vibrant, dread-inducing forest. The three characters are already comfortable being on camera and improvising dialogue that they feel rather natural here. They not only know how to enunciate and act in front of the lens, but they truly give us the perfect combination of professional and amateur; which I really respect. The technicality that went into the picture quality and sound effects is great. And it does try to do something a bit different behind the “why” of the happenings.

But this film just didn’t do anything for me. It’s absolutely not the worst Found Footage film I’ve seen this year – that’s a conversation for another time – but it’s far from the most exciting, scary, or clever film I’ve seen this year.

1.5/5

“House on Eden” is available on VOD services, and will be streaming on Shudder late October.

‘Til Next Time,
Mike Cleopatra