Director of new doc exposing ‘truth’ behind horror house speaks out on whether interviewees are ‘survivors’ or not

The director of the new documentary exposing the ‘truth’ behind an infamous horror house has spoken out on whether the interviewees are ‘survivors’.

Landing on Hulu, Monster Inside tells the story of McKamey Manor.

You can check our the trailer here:

Now, an important thing to add is that the place isn’t supposed to be a regular, creepy, ‘haunted house’ at the end of the street.

No, McKamey Manor is an attraction, run by Russ McKamey, with people having to sign a big old waiver before they start the tour.

To this day, no one is said to have ever made it through the full thing, from the original incarnation back in San Diego, or in Summertown, Tennessee, and Huntsville, Alabama – yes obviously this is in the US.

The synopsis for Monster Inside reads: "What would it be like to be trapped in a real-life horror movie? Monster Inside follows the story of Russ McKamey.

"The Navy Veteran who lures horror enthusiasts into his web. They find themselves pulled into the no-holds-barred world of McKamey Manor - a haunt that doesn’t end until Russ says so…

Hulu

“Driven by his personal fixations, he turned his backyard haunt into a bona fide torture chamber: videotaping ‘contestants,’ particularly vulnerable young women, as he sees how far he can push them - both inside and outside of the haunt.

"Through the stories of our main characters, and expert commentary, the film hopes to show how a person’s past could draw them into extreme activity, some forms of which might actually be beneficial, and thus more broadly answer the question: why do we do anything extreme?"

Yeah, creepy.

But with this place being an ‘attraction’ for horror lovers, there’s been some confusion over whether three interviewees in the documentary are classed as ‘survivors’.

Hulu

So, Dread Central asked filmmaker Andrew Renzi just how we can refer to the interview subjects.

He explained: “They were participants, they were survivors. They are characters in this documentary and people who are telling their stories. Survivor obviously does put at the forefront the things that they went through.

“I’m sure that would be appreciated by that. And then there’s obviously people that are gonna say, ‘but they were willing participants’. So, they’re participants in this. What you refer to them as is interesting because it speaks to the kind of controversy and complications of the story.”

I mean, a handful of these former ‘participants’ have claimed they ‘pulled their own teeth out’ in the house. So they seem to have ‘survived’ something.