Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House 2023 Movie Review
San Diego (California). Russ McKamey, a former soldier, in the mid-2000s converted an old mental asylum into a “house of horrors”: the classic place of entertainment for adults and children, particularly popular in the month of October as it is associated with the traditional Halloween celebration. As the years pass, McKamey works to make his attraction increasingly frightening, so much so that it reaches a point of no return. Access is prohibited to minors, from 18 to 21 years old, those who want to be hosted at “McKamey Manor” must be accompanied by their parents but, what is particularly extravagant, the route has been designed as a psychological and physical tour de force so much so that those decides to participate and finds himself in the same role as an unfortunate protagonist of horror films, having to try to endure a long series of physical and verbal insults, sometimes even being filmed to be broadcast live on YouTube. McKamey doesn’t do it for money, he guarantees access to the house of horrors in exchange for dog food and, above all, by having a waiver signed: anyone who decides to enter the McKamey Manor declines any responsibility for the painful consequences they may face, such as tooth extraction (obviously without anesthesia), broken bones, heart attacks, head trauma. In fact, more than a house of horror, over time the place has become similar to a torture room with patrons forced to suffer, in sessions lasting seven or eight hours, all kinds of beatings, burials, waterboarding (simulation of drowning), contact with insects and tarantulas, ingestion of unknown foods and administration of drugs. As a prize, for those who manage to avoid saying the word “safety” (thus interrupting the agony), there would be 20,000 dollars which, to date, no one has been able to collect.
The reactions of the media did not take long to make themselves felt, even heavily, so much so that McKamey, in 2017, was forced to abandon San Diego to move to Tennessee. This extreme and very dangerous experience, however strange, attracts the public, so much so that access to the “Manor McKamey” has become almost a privilege (27,000 people are on the waiting list) while the websites (including Facebook) dedicated to event are followed by an incalculable number of enthusiasts.
This is essentially what Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House is about , a documentary directed by Andrew Renzi and intended for the Hulu platform. Notably absent is McKamey himself (he refused to participate), while chilling images of real torture suffered by consenting victims appear on the screen. Three participants describe their experience: Melissa, Gabriela (thrice admitted to the tour) and Brandon, the latter a veteran of the war in Iraq. The human mind is truly indecipherable, at least according to their statements.
” Before I was nobody “, says Melissa and continues: ” After appearing in a video on YouTube I became famous, with thousands of followers and fans contacting me to talk about the experience “. A rather unusual way to become “someone”, by being psychologically and physically mistreated for hours and hours in front of a camera that broadcasts the footage live in the ruthless, sometimes freezing and also quite stupid, virtual universe of the Web.
