Available streaming on Tubi and from the Bad Ben website!

BAD BEN 6: THE WAY IN (2019)

Directed, Written, and starring Nigel Bach.

Director/writer Nigel Bach is back as Tom Riley, who this time has been hired to rid the house on Steelmanville Road of its paranormal phenomenon. Tom needs the money, so he’s willing to risk life and limb to find out why so many demons, monsters, ghosts, and evil baddies are attracted to this specific home. So once again, we are following good ol’ Tom as he pitters around the house and must track down and capture nine evil entities before finally ridding the house of its evil infestation.

It’s all about context and what makes it feasible for Tom to return to the home is spelled out in the opening scrawl where we are informed the how and why Tom decides to return. He also mentions it a few times. What makes this one different than the previous entries is that it acknowledges that Tom has experienced this before and that, contrary to his reactions to the horror, he has seen it all before and says he’s not scared of it. Tom has taken these experiences with the unknown and become some kind of warrior against the supernatural, despite the fact that he looks like your neighbor from childhood. What could be seen as a repetitive entry turns out to be quite entertaining because Tom has walked through this house before.

Tom discovers new rooms, encounters new terrors, and finds himself ill prepared for what the house has in store for him. There are some solid jump scares throughout THE WAY IN as Bach has developed quite a keen eye for building tension. There’s also quite a lot of quality comedy at play. I found myself laughing more at this one than in previous entries. Bach definitely has improved with each entry by way of setting up a scare and a joke. Impressive.

Once again, things work up to a punchline in the final act that really isn’t the smartest thing for Tom Riley to do, but what can you do. This series teeters on being a serious horror story and a spoof of the found footage genre and itself, so I can’t get too mad at it. This installment actually incorporates some rudimentary CG which is fun to see as Bach expands his repertoire. It’s still hokey. It’s still hammy. It’s still some dude walking in circles around his house with the occasional jump scare and spooky scene, but dammit, this series really has kept on delivering the goods with the occasional stumble along the way. It’s not perfect, but it’s still fun. Next week, Tom takes it on the road in THE HAUNTED HIGHWAY! See you then.

BAD BEN Review here!!
BAD BEN 2: STEELMANVILLE ROAD here!!
BAD BEN 3: BADDER BEN here!!
BAD BEN 4: THE MANDELA EFFECT here!!
BAD BEN 5: THE CRESCENT MOON CLOWN here!!
Check out the trailer here!!