Arriving in a small town, a sheriff and his family find the new house they've moved into is the home to a ravenous ghost that was initially burned alive as a witch in the town's past and tries to get them out of the creature's wrath before succumbing to its rampage.
This here wasn't that bad of an effort. One of the better features here comes from the film taking place in the typically creepy and chilling house which manages to utilize a great mixture of both the classic and more modern elements. The main house, full of the creaking wooden hallways and panels, sharp corners and the general air of history seeping through the walls really looks like the appropriate old- school, historically chilling house that maintains a suitable setting for the modern appliances that are at play here. Those more modern influences, from their ability to interact with the teens over the computer messenger or appearing to manipulate their visions, really begins to drive him insane as these tactics come off really well. These deliver some great hauntings as the scene of them pulling the hair from the shower drain with a tooth embedded in it, the gagging daughter hallucination or the different flash visions that keep occurring around the house showing them strung u in a hanging-style scenario which springs up quite often here to torment him. These scenes here provide the great framework for the actions leading up to the big finale in the actions of the possessed over the rest of the family which gives this one some great scenes of her utilizing the supernatural antics to attack and torment the others by popping up around them or launching attacks that are really much more impressive than expected to generate some nice bloody deaths immersed into the fine action. These here are what really works, though there's a few flaws to be found here. The biggest issue to be found is the really weak and half-hearted storyline that manages to be quite a cliché as well as goes for the cop-out explanation of everything which makes for a wholly simplistic affair. What should've been a thrilling exploration of the history of the house and the things going bump inside is instead glossed over in such a quick fashion that it really loses a lot of potential here by simply spelling everything out in one quick scene gives this one quite a lame buildup. It really could've given this one a greater sense of fear and suspense had this one gone for a more realistic route that allowed for the film to pace itself a little more. Even more to the point is the way this one goes for the overly familiar route of the ghostly haunting being presented here, from the troubled figure driven insane by what's going on to the point of madness against the disbelief of his family, the townsfolk who know it all and the ghosts coming back to seek revenge on such wrong-doers which gets targeted by their rampage all being quite familiar elements that are at play here, and all told the story here is quite disappointing. As well, the low-budget look here is another factor to hold this one back, from the cramped-in feeling of the house and the early attack scenes to the CGI and the effects in general this one tends to have the low-budget feel that's hard to get over. These here are the film's flaws.
Rated R: Language and Violence.
