The Hoard is a 2018 horror comedy/mockumentary that documents the happenings of a production team during the filming of an ultimate reality TV show pilot called “Extremely Haunted Hoarders”. The Hoard world premiered at Blood in the Snow Festival.
Mockumentaries are a tough subgenre to crack. They have to carry a certain comedic value to them as they and poke fun at certain style of film. In this case, The Hoard tackles reality TV in the likes of ghost hunting combined with house flipping shows. The movie is funny for the most part but takes a turn for something more for horror near the end, which adds a twist, yet the main hurdle is honestly how much viewers enjoy mockumentaries in general. It embraces what it’s trying to achieve with its ragtag team of “experts” and its commitment to the premise, making this a interesting diversion.
The most comedic character in The Hoards is the pompous Dr. Ebe (Tony Burgess) who takes his role as the resident psychiatrist to solve this hoarding habit of their subject to another level with both impractical and ridiculous ways. Then there is the divorced paranormal experts Chloe (Emma Begovic) and Caleb Black (Ry Barrett), who have their incredibly hilarious interpretation of ghost hunters both making fun of the scenario in an indirect way, mostly over-the-top with plenty of laughs. It’s quite a treat to see Begovic switch from the intensity of her work in Bite to this comedic turn. The girl has some range.
The professional organizer, Sheila Smyth (Lisa Solberg) is the leader of the team and while she is simply the glue and most grounded person here – and the one who goes through a lot more situations and dramatic moments – she somehow doesn’t have quite as much impact as those mentioned. Same goes for the construction/renovation trio, Duke (Marcus Ludlow), Falcon (Justin Darmanin) and their temp worker Ivey (Charles Ivey). They do cover a bit of goofy humor but eventually, this all overstays its welcome.
I get it. Humor is subjective. It’s exactly what makes the mockumentary comedy genre sometimes hard to talk about. What tickles my funny bone might not work for you. In this case, the humor hits just enough for this film to work as intended. However, it’s a little disjointed and stuffed with bits that feel not so necessary. It’s a short run time and circles too long in many of the same movements and the sudden horror comes a little too late. Still, there are good moments and for those who do appreciate mockumentaries, this one is worth a shot.