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PREMIERE: Enter the Haunted House with Barker

There’s a lot to love about noir. The element of intrigue, the characters with limitless backstory and the slow intensity that bubbles under the surface. It’s a great setting to tell a story that isn’t used much these days. Thankfully the latest clip from Barker has swooped in to fill the void with Haunted House, a rich and intricate video that lives up to the noir name.

Barker premi

Enter the Haunted House with Barker, the noir inspired thriller that oozes pure tension, mesmerising practical effects and great direction.

Auckland based muso Johnny Barker has been performing under his last name for a little while now, but plenty of folks would recognise him for his various film and television roles including Shortland Street. So after almost 20 years working in the film industry it comes as no surprise that Johnny directed the video for Haunted House himself, and with the help of his team from Lens Flare have turned out a wicked video.

As Johnny says “I enjoy writing from the perspective of a fictional character so when the opportunity arises to continue one of these characters onto the screen, I’m all for it. It’s a unique way of conveying an idea from the beginning of the process to end. It feels far more interesting to me than a band miming in a warehouse“.

The track is a brooding indie rock number in it’s own right but the video is another beast altogether. The narrative of the clip is simple enough, Johnny plays a battered man searching for a young girl with supernatural powers. The slow burn is eerie, the clip reaching its crescendo as the two confront each other in a dilapidated house. The style of the clip was easy to come up with for Johnny, as he says “I am a big fan of sci fi, film noir and thriller elements in both music and film so it was an easy and exciting choice for this project“.

Props to director of photography Drew Sturge, the images in the video are crisp whilst maintaining the brooding presence throughout. The sense of drama steadily builds and escalates thanks to the well placed uses of slow motion and close ups. We don’t know why Barker’s character has been drawn into the conflict, but the tension is palpable. When they do have their face off it’s nothing short of epic, the young girl unleashing her power done brilliantly through the use of practical effects.

Haunted House is now available for purchase through Johnny’s bandcamp, with his album Sleepwalking due out towards the end of the year. Keep an eye on his socials for all the details and touring info.

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