When I saw the premise for “The Haunted Museum,” I thought it’d be like the show “A Haunting.” A show of dramatic re-enactments with snippets of the actual people involved, telling their story. “The Haunted Museum” is not that. I was pleasantly surprised to see it was fictionalized stories about items in Zak Bagans’s museum. This first episode centered around a dollhouse that Zak had acquired in 2018.
The episode starts off with Zak telling his story about the item, and the paranormal happenings surrounding it. It then goes into a fictional take on this item, and how it may affect people.
The Story: Dollhouse of the Damned
So, the story takes some liberties, and dramatizes what the dollhouse is all about. The fictionalized story was very good. It was like a short horror movie. With that said, I didn’t quite take to the characters in the that short amount of time – the action started rather quickly. Loved ones and demons go together like PB & J in horror, and real life, don’t they? It was no surprise to see that concept again, but to see it used with a children’s plaything, was interesting. Seeing as demons pretend to be children, it makes sense that demonic activity be tied to a dollhouse.
Production Value
Wow. For a short program, the production value was very high. Like I had stated previously, it’s like a short horror movie. What I’m about to say next, I mean in the most positive manner: it felt like an independent film. Nothing too over the top, soft lighting, and a confined filming space. I appreciated the high quality, and yet homey feel of the production.
overall
Loved it. This show wasn’t what I expected it to be, in the best possible way. I was focused, and found myself watching it through without needing to pause or look at my phone. Is it odd to call a show about haunted artifacts homey? Certainly, for some, yes. But I love horror, I love the paranormal, and “The Haunted Museum” is a wonderful short trip.
If you want to read another related article, check out our article about the recent Ghost Adventures special!
“The Haunted Museum” is now streaming on Discovery+!