This new horror comedy written and directed by Emily Hagin is not a great movie, but it's goofy fun if you're willing to go along for the not-very-serious ride.

Will (Jon Michael Simpson, a little reminiscent of Nicholas Brendan's Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is a 27-year-old who still hasn't worked out his life. He dabbles in pursuits such as baking and pottery and candlemaking and talks vaguely about making them pay. But he works in a dead-end, minimum-wage customer care job for a toothpaste company, fielding calls at all hours from customers complaining about a change in the product's formula (apparently now it's salty).

Like I said, the film is goofy.

His girlfriend Amy (Paige Evans) is fed up and after she dumps him he needs a new place to live. On offer is a huge, impressive-looking house the strangely eager Sellers family - mother, father, teenage son, young daughter - is looking to rent out urgently and at a bargain rate. What we know and they know and Will doesn't is that the house is haunted, not only by ghosts but by a demon - named Deomonous (voiced by Tony Vespe) - who wants a human sacrifice. The parents have made a deal with Deomonous (and yes, the dopiness of that name is lampshaded by one of the characters) to save their daughter and Will is to be the victim so they can return.

But the demon seems to be in no hurry and Will experiences a lot of strange phenomena - a ghost steals one of his shirts, the furniture gets rearranged, doors open and close, strange voices whisper. He's bemused but doesn't seem overly fazed as he half-heartedly tries to better himself in the hope of winning Amy back.

But things escalate - threatening messages written in cake icing, that kind of thing - and Will begins to get a little perturbed. The police, understandably, are sceptical.

Meanwhile his lawyer friend Patrick (Jeff McQuilty), while also sceptical about the things Will says about his new abode, is trying to help. He arranges a blind date with one of his colleagues, coincidentally named Aimee (Olivia Ducayen) but while they don't really hit it off romantically, it turns out she has some experience with the paranormal that might come in handy. It's a helluva coincidence but fits in perfectly with the way the film works.

This is a romp with the occasional mild jump scare rather than an all-out, seriously bloody horror movie so its blithe story contrivances and silliness don't matter. The Sellers family don't seem overly surprised by the presence of a demon in their house though they are understandably unenthusiastic about the prospect of possession.

While the film is reminiscent of other horror movies like The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror, it's not too blatant or overly derivative. And its sense of humour is its own.

The sets and lighting are effective in creating a haunted-house vibe. This isn't a big-budget film so the special effects are modest but work fine and the monster makeup is suitably ugly.

Will is alone a lot of the time so a lot rests on the actor playing him. Simpson is likeable and adept at the comedy side of the role while making the character's romantic longing convincing too.

The supporting actors are also good though some of them don't have much to do.

Overlength is the main problem: the film could have been trimmed a little as there are a few slow spots. Some of the gags didn't really seem to land but that's largely a matter of taste. It's still fun.