Seen: March 27th, 2007
Format: DVD
Rating: 3
There are horror movies and then there are horrid movies. This is one of the later.
I'm trying to find something nice to say about this. I guess that there are a few "Made you jump!" moments, and they're pretty good ones at that. There's some polished possession effects that are cribbed from The Exorcist, but done with modern technology. Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland do their parts a great deal of justice.
The rest is awful. Where to begin?
First, this is supposed to be a period piece. That's all well and good, but nothing of the period really stands out and contributes to the story. People wander around in period garb and prattle on in stilted older English with bad accents. Kids write on slates. Basically the whole thing is a modern possession film with period trappings.
The fact that this is based on a true story is pointless. The story it's based on seems to be an account published long after the actual haunting and possibly sensationalized. The story itself is basic possession fare. You wont' see anything you haven't seen before. You will see a lot that you have seen before, much of it repeated several times to make sure you didn't miss anything.
The story which "wraps" the period story is also pointless. It exists merely as a failed attempt to try to infuse the period tale with some modern relevance. Its tepid and trite, and doesn't service to period piece at all. I wouldn't be surprised if is was shot and added late in post-production to try to lengthen the film and connect with audiences.
The acting, with the exceptions of Spacek and Sutherland, is uniformly grim. S and S are professionals and deliver solid performances. They do a decent job with the little they're provided. Others don't fare as well. The hideous accents and melodramatic performances grow tiresome. There is blustering and emoting aplenty. The fact that the dialogue is less than inspiring doesn't help this much.
There is actually some decent camera work and design here. The Color transitioning to Black and White fade with sweeping camera moves is stolen from Fallen, a much better film. Still, it's fairly effective here. The lighting and night lighting in particular is good. The fairly drab color scheme fits the film well. The world is not overly neat and picturesque, opting instead for a more homespun and authentic look.
The worst part about all this is that there's little to even make fun of. It's just a pointless re-tread. Unless you're collecting possession films or want to know what to avoid in your burgeoning film career, I'd look elsewhere.
The Good: Spacek and Sutherland
The Bad: Accents
The Ugly: Modern day allegory plays dress-up
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