Horror Movie Review: Kolobos (1999)

Kolobos (also known as Haunted House) is a 1999 horror movie directed by Daniel Liatowitsch and David Todd Ocvirk. It begins in confusing fashion as a couple comes across a woman who is badly hurt. They try to get some details out of her but she is only able to utter one word…kolobos.

This woman is Kyra (Amy Weber), an artist who draws violent and sinister pictures that often depict brutal murders. Wanting to do something out of the ordinary, she decides to take part in a new reality show. A kind of ‘Big Brother’ where her and a group of strangers will live in a house together and be filmed 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

The group are a bunch of caricatures of 90’s TV but in the context of the film, it works. You’re not going to remember anyone’s name but they won’t annoy the hell out of you either.

So as the group get to know each other, Kyra’s drawings cause a few problems. That and the discovery of her anxiety medication leading some of the nastier housemates to think she is a schizophrenic.

As night falls, the real problems start as Kyra begins to have hallucinations and deadly traps begin to kill off the cast. Naturally Kyra becomes the prime suspect especially when a faceless entity starts to appear around the house. Why? This ‘person’ or ‘thing’ appeared in most of her drawings.

The body count begins to rise, the house has become a death trap…will anyone be able to get out alive?

Kolobos is a decent enough late 90’s low budget horror that entertains with plenty of gore, a decent ‘whodunit’ and an ambiguous ending. The latter leaves the door open for you to decide just what might have happened. This gives the events a bit more weight rather then just being a standard ‘slasher’ horror.

The cast are decent too, nothing to get excited about but each actor and actress does enough to ensure the main story moves along at a decent pace.

It’s worth a watch.