As the new film, The Haunting of Pennhurst, began, I soon realized that this was going to be something very different from what I was expecting. Covering the celebrated haunted attraction Pennhurst Asylum in Pennsylvania, Directors Mike Attie, Katarina Poljak, and Nathan R. Stenberg land a powerful sucker punch of a doc by initially introducing us to a clan of dedicated misfit performers producing a haunted attraction. Then they get into the history of the location and we realize that this is a Halloween tradition on a mission to preserve and educate. Well done.

It’s no surprise to me that the team behind such a celebrated haunt would actually be so warm and welcoming. To see it reconfirms my experience. The film begins as Autumn Werner, Emily Wonder, and a host of others welcome new hires to the haunt. The ground rules are clear. Respect is mandatory for those with disabilities. There can be patient on doctor violence depicted, but there will NEVER be doctor on patient violence. Diversity is celebrated and uniqueness encouraged. Use of the R-word is grounds for immediate termination.

Very quickly we jump to opening night of the haunt. Everyone is in place and they revel in terrifying all who dare to visit. This is a haunt that is big on empowerment and that is awesome. Yet The Haunting of Pennhurst has more to say. We begin cutting away to news clippings and interviews that tell the actual history of the location. Opened in 1897, the Eastern Pennsylvania Institution for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic, was considered state of the art. The “defectives” of society were sent here to live, exist, and eventually die. The facility was shuttered in 1987, after rampant violence and death. In several audio clips, we listen as one inmate recalls his time there. His words are downright chilling.

So why a haunt at the place of such horror? One of the actors calls it a “necessary evil” that allows them to tell the real story of Pennhurst. In the off season this dedicated troupe of people run ghost tours and a museum dedicated to the victims of this well meaning, if horribly misguided and mismanaged facility. We watch as the folks running the museum explore the various abandoned structures hoping to find remnants of the past left to decay quietly. Footage and stories from the past pepper clips from the present to remind us that it would be all too easy to put people away.

Much like the dedicated group of performers and preservationists, The Haunting of Pennhurst is a documentary that confronts the darkness in order to find the light in humanity. Directors Mike Attie, Katarina Poljak, Nathan R. Stenberg are very keen to point out the absurdity and objectification of turning mental illness into a horror device. Amused visitors lumber past animated figures in foggy hallways all so that the memory of past patients and victims can be remembered. Is it worth it? Clearly.

I think what I enjoyed the most about The Haunting of Pennhurst is the reminder that the community, of which I consider myself a part, is one of kindness, awareness and empowerment. For the passive haunt fan this is an insightful look behind the scenes. For haunters, this is affirmation that they are doing good work.