The basic concept behind this franchise remains sound: take some borrowed scares from professional haunters, add a few spooky twists, then leave the audience puzzling over how much that they saw actually happened.

It is as if “The Houses October Built 2” looked at the first film and said to itself, “Everyone is too affable. How can we make everyone annoying?” Not since “The Walking Dead” heavily reedited Glen escaping the dumpster has visual media so backtracked

Let's call The Houses October Built 2 what it is. It's a vacation reel, released as a found footage horror film under the barest of pretenses to trick people out of their money.

It's a little light on scares, and the conclusion is a little bit of a cop out, but it does a lovely job calling out a part of the fandom that is growing and presenting questions that need to be asked.