-Written by Michelle Vorob.
For Sale is a comedy horror movie about Mason (Andrew Roth), an unscrupulous car salesman, who finds himself in the position of living in a haunted house that must be sold.
When we first see Mason, his wheeling and dealing catches up with him; both his boss and his girlfriend send him packing, unable to tolerate his shady practices and empty promises any longer. Mason, left with nothing, scrambles to find a new job and home, landing a real estate position in which he has to sell an “unsellable” house. A haunted house.
As the only fully developed character in For Sale, I felt some compassion for Mason as he fell on hard luck. I didn't believe any of the other characters were feeling much of anything. The acting by most of the cast was flat, amateurish and it didn't feel like it was done that way on purpose, to elicit a campy or satirical feel. At least not to me. On that note, the movie didn't feel much like a comedy. While there were some funny tidbits, like many horror flicks employ, the film actually thrived in the scenes where it went all in with horror.
For Sale would be a gem of a horror film if Director and Co-Writer Christopher Schrack had gone full throttle horror. The horror elements were well-crafted, slowly seeping in until the paranormal became prominent. I suspect this content in For Sale is what elicited several nominations and wins from Haunted House FearFest Film Festival 2023 and The Magic of Horror Festival 2023.
During the course of For Sale, Mason has to fully acknowledge his past behavior and at times, I thought the ending was going to be like Ebenezer Scrooge's re-awakening of his humanity and we'd see a content and trustworthy Mason, maybe as a family man, helping people in a new, honest career of some sort. What winds up happening is actually not a bad ending in the context of a horror movie, but probably disappointing for some viewers.
The house has a storied history of family murder-suicides. We see the cycle play out in an interesting way this time. Mason employs a Medium, Claire (Corinne Britti), to contact the spirits that are lingering in the house, in order to clear them out and sell the property. As you may have guessed, house showings haven't been going too well.
Mason and Claire try to clear the spirits, unsuccessfully. When another prospective buyer shows up, Jim (Erik Alexis), Mason is suspicious that he's another evil spirit. However, he's interested in the house specifically because he was intrigued by the history and tells a now frazzled and desperate Mason he wants to buy the house.
Mason is relieved, ecstatic. And yet; something is nagging him later. He's concerned for Jim, so he calls. Jim has a headache, doesn't feel himself. There are other elements at play. Important details. Mason rushes over to help Jim. No spoilers, that way you can watch and decide what you think of the ending for yourself.
FOR SALE IS NOW AVAILABLE ON STREAMING PLATFORMS!
Directed by Christopher Schrack.
Written by Jordan Friedberg and Christopher Schrack.
Starring Andrew Roth, Corinne Britti, Steve Montague, Rachael Lubarsky, Erik Alexis, Maria Christina Perry, Michael Shershenovich, Chardelle Moore, Tony Brown, Daisy Morrison, Frank M. Stallone, etc.
7.5/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING
