The Haunting of Pearson Place

See there's this new species out there. A hybrid. Horror-comedy they call it. You watch the movie, you get scared, you laugh a little here and there. It's catching on. I highly recommend it.

Director Michael Merino's The Haunting of Pearson Place fits the bill. Scary here, funny there. Lot's going on. Hell's a popping'. See it all centers on a yuppie couple who want to buy an old house and turn it into a bed and breakfast (don't they always?). Gwen and Steven (Tracy Teague, as good here as she was in Respire, and always excellent Ken Arnold) have a strained marriage and they figger somehow this will save it.

Seems like these yuppie couples never listen to the locals, for example the likes of store owner Carol (effectively scary Kelly Slagle) who suggests the place has a lot of negative energy, and they just might want to reconsider being proprietors of a bed and breakfast. Seems like the house once served as a hospice for World War I soldiers who did not die there in a pleasant manner. From there it gets really weird. Where's Rod Serling?

Throw in another, more annoying couple, Catherine and Michael (Aussie actress Julie Price and why-isn't-he-famous Regan Wilson), and stir, and you get a recipe that stinks to high heaven when Gwen gets reminded of her husband Steven's questionable history with Catherine. We see Teague, as Gwen, throw her delicious bitchiness around like a hatchet.

If that wasn't bad enough, weirdo real estate agent (Joe Estevez, Charlie Sheen's uncle) pops in and out of thin air every so often to harass Steven, and talks to folks who ain't there. Hmmm. We see a wacked-out chick in a bathtub, mannequins that talk, a hand coming from under the bed and such like. All punctuated by laughs hither and yon. Funniest of all is inspector from the county, Jim Shoemaker (the excellent Mick McGuire), who has a too-close moment with Michael that will have you ROTFL.

The Haunting of Pearson Place will leave you thrilled, chilled and your funny bone grilled.

Good movie with a well developed story line. Not too gory, it did not rely on cheap thrills but rather it played upon the imagination of the audience using creative imaging and story content. They got me with the interesting and believable characters and held me with twists and turns. Suspenseful moments were well balanced with unexpected moments of comedy. I enjoyed watching the movie, my mind was racing to figure out the puzzle of Pearson's place before the credits rolled. I particularly liked the ending, glad to see it was not too predictable. The cinematography, acting and makeup were all great.

Congrats to the cast and crew!

I simply LOVED this Movie.

It was moody and very well Acted. Tracy Teague did a phenomenal job, and Ken, Regan and Julie were also spot on per their Roles. Last but certainly not least, it is obvious that Joe Estevez has acting 'genes' that run across his family. His brother has nothing on him for the role he portrayed in 'Haunting'! He was amazing.

The screenplay was tight (some of the tag lines.. well.. I won't forget them anytime soon!)... it had humor interspersed with some cutting edge sarcasm and genuine panic. Michael's direction was very intriguing. Its obvious that he is a student of the business and has taken some real cues from some masters (Hitchcock really comes to mind). Some very creative camera panning, angles and draw backs..

All in all, I think this movie was really good and deserves a decent distribution. I would go pay $10 at the big theater to see it! Bill Hocking

I must start with a disclaimer.. I was an executive producer for the MCM Film 502. However, not involved in this film, I must say that this is the reason I helped in producing Michael Merino's earlier film.

That out of the way, The Haunting of Pearson Place, came in well below the budget of other independent horror thrillers, and tuned out to be very good. Better than a number that have made it to the big screen. I attended the private screening and was pleasantly entertained. The film gives you just enough blood, violence, and suspense to make its comparison to the genera without going over the top. In other words it should have a broader appeal to a wider market.

The story line flows and the acting is very good, keeping an audience engaged from the start. But, the hidden diamond for the film is the subtle humor that runs throughout. This especially during the interaction between the charters of Jim Shoemaker and Michael. Sorry, no spoiler you need to see it.

Everyone associated with the film should be happy, and proud it was a job well done.

This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. At first I thought it had to be a student production of some kind, or a horror-comedy, supposed to be a parody. But it was not supposed to be either. It was supposed to be a "real" horror movie on the haunted house theme, and I find it incredible that professional movie-makers can make such a flop of this theme NOW, in the 2010:s??! This would have been a bad and clumsy horror movie already in the 1930:s.

I do not even know where to start. EVERYTHING was amateurish: the script, the acting, the directing, the special effects... There were no dramaturgy at all. Even the real people who were not supposed to be ghosts, looked, talked and moved like zombies. ALL of them looked out of place. The ghosts, on the other hand, did not look like ghosts but like real people, there was nothing other-wordly about them at all, and they were totally un-scary. The horror music did not scare either, because it was too loud, blatant and obvious. Total flop, there is nothing redeeming here at all.