A killer infiltrates a Midwest haunted house in the upcoming horror film “Haunt Season,” from Gurnee writer/director Jake Jarvi. Realm of Terror haunted house owner Stephen Kristof, center, plays a haunted house owner in the film which premiered Friday in Los Angeles and begins streaming via video-on-demand Oct. 8.
Courtesy of Epic Pictures
Before he had a script for his debut horror film, even before he had a story, Gurnee filmmaker Jake Jarvi had a location: Round Lake Beach’s Realm of Terror haunted house, whose owner Stephen Kristof shares Jarvi’s affinity for scary movies.
The pair bonded several years ago after meeting on a project for Jarvis’ boss, multi-instrumentalist and YouTube content creator Rob Scallon.
“I said, ‘If you ever want to make a horror film, I have a place,’” said Kristof, referring to his long-running haunted house.
“Next thing I knew, he had written a script and brought it to me,” said Kristof who also plays a haunted house owner in “Haunt Season” which opened Friday in Los Angeles and begins streaming on demand Tuesday. (The Chicago screening is Oct. 21, at the Davis Theater, 4614 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago.)
“It was weird being a haunted house owner and auditioning for the role of a haunted house owner,” he said laughing. “It was a fun experience and a lot more challenging than I thought it was going to be.”
The first-time film actor and coproducer says “Haunt Season” is not a traditional horror flick.
“It’s a smart and charming movie, despite the fact it’s dripping with blood,” he said.
Jarvi knew Kristof’s two decades of experience made him a great scare actor, but “I didn’t know he would be so good at dialogue scenes. I’m so happy he was so good because he has always wanted to do movies just like me.”
Sarah Elizabeth plays Matilda, an aspiring actor who takes a job at a haunted house in “Haunt Season,” by writer/director Jake Jarvi of Gurnee. The movie was filmed at locations in Round Lake Beach, Waukegan, Gurnee and Highwood.
Courtesy of Epic Pictures
Jarvi wrote the movie — about an aspiring actor who joins a haunted house cast whose members are mysteriously disappearing — despite having never stepped inside Kristof’s haunt.
“It’s a story about people with creative aspirations,” said the Lake Bluff native. “That’s what haunters are. Even more than the spooky stuff, they love entertaining people.”
Much of the upcoming horror film “Haunt Season” was filmed at the Realm of Terror haunted house in Round Lake Beach.
Courtesy of Epic Pictures
Having a working haunt in which to film was invaluable, Jarvi said. He relied partly on the expertise of Kristof and his colleagues, including makeup FX artist (and Kristof’s wife) Stevie Calabrese, for the movie, which commenced shooting in August 2022.
“We shot all the haunt interiors in August and September so we wouldn’t get in their way,” said Jarvi, who filmed several additional scenes outside the haunted house after it opened for the 2022 season.
“Haunt Season” offers a new spin on the haunted house subgenre in that the killer attacks the haunted house actors, not the haunted house patrons, Jarvi said. The film also upends the slasher film trope of characters being unlikable.
Gurnee resident Jake Jarvi wrote, directed, produced and edited “Haunt Season,” which begins streaming Oct. 8. The film’s Chicago premiere takes place Oct. 21 at the Davis Theater.
Courtesy of Epic Pictures
“That’s not my scene,” he said. “I don’t want to spend time with (unlikable) people … I don’t want to sit around waiting for the killer to show up. I want to be around people I want to spend time with.”
That’s what “Scream” had going for it, characters you wanted to hang out with, said Jarvi, a lifelong film fan who discovered slasher movies in high school.
“That’s what I wanted to populate ‘Haunt Season’ with,” he added.
Scallon and fellow YouTube creator Craig Benzine — a video producer, musician and vlogger known for his WheezyWaiter channel — helped finance “Haunt Season.”
Both men appear in the film and Scallon composed music for the soundtrack.
“Rob and Craig said ‘OK, if you’ve always wanted to do this, we’ll be the first investors. We’ll also put our names behind it and point our audience toward it,’” said Jarvi, who raised more than half of the roughly $200,000 filming cost online.
Stephen Kristof, owner of the Realm of Terror haunted house in Round Lake Beach and a “Haunt Season” actor, offered to let writer/director Jake Jarvi film in his venue even before seeing the script. “If Jake came to me with another project, I’d have a hard time saying no to him,” he said.
Courtesy of Epic Pictures
Kristof said making the movie offered him and his fellow scare artists an opportunity to share their art with a larger audience.
While he has no intention of leaving the haunted house biz, “if Jake came to me with another project, I’d have a hard time saying no to him.”
“Haunt Season,” by Gurnee writer/director Jake Jarvi, begins streaming Oct. 8 on video-on-demand.
Courtesy Epic Pictures
Jarvi hopes at the end of the film, horror lovers sit back and say “that was a good time.”
As for those who aren’t really into bloody slasher films?
“They only have to close their eyes a few times,” he said with a smile.