Houses to Avoid on Halloween - And How to Die Quickly if You Can't

You may be planning to go out this Halloween, perhaps trick or treating with friends. In case you really must, here is a short pictorial guide to the kind of houses you should really avoid this Halloween. There are a number of tell-tale signs to look out for. If you just know you're not the type to make it to the end of a slasher pic, follow our advice: stay in (not that it will help you if you believe in predestination). Otherwise you may well just become part of another urban legend, the stuff of future horror movies. Yet although your life might be over but there are a few ways to ensure your demise is as swift and as painless as possible.

Dead Man’s Lake

We’ve been waiting a while for this and it doesn’t disappoint. The sixth installment of the Bloody Cuts series of the gruesome and ghastly, Dead Man’s Lake is a homage to all of those slasher movies of the 1980s. Yet as with the preceding five short movies in this series, everything is not all quite as it seems and the genre gets somewhat subverted.

This short starts with a classic B-movie horror scenario – three friends go camping in the woods. We have the usual suspects, the jock with a heart, the pretty girl with the long blond hair and the libido and the nerdy kid with (probably) a troubled background. Together they blithely ignore the warnings that tell them to keep out and head to the lake for a summer night’s camping.

Of course, it’s not long before things start to go wrong – but despite your best efforts to make them listen by shouting at them to do exactly the opposite, these kids just carry on regardless.  The story is drawn from the brain of Bloody Cuts creator Ben Franklin, who takes directing duties for the first time. The script is Joel Morgan. Although you may think that the warnings at the beginning are part of the pastiche – beware! If you are faint hearted (as I am) you will end up watching this from between your fingers.