The Haunting of Julia Fields

It wasted mine. I forgave the plot contrivances, dumb little errors and writing flaws that made no sense - in the dwindling hope it would "get to the good part." While this movie is available for free, it's not worth it. It hasn't a good part. There is no pay-off to "Balloon Boy," no development of the paranormal aspects, the script is just in every way awful. The acting - what there is of acting, is merely acceptable. Neither good nor bad. The incorporation of the cell phone text messages does not though, pass for dialogue, drama or tension building. And boy happy howdy, does this sham of a movie rely on that. GET IT? SHE'S 22, SHE HAS A CELL PHONE! That doesn't make a movie. I'd tell the people behind this thing to try again. But, they sure weren't trying with this.

Apparently, the film with the most 'on the nose' title ever - 'The Haunting of Julia Fields' - was 'based on a true story.' If that means a girl rents a house, then I guess it's correct. But I'm guessing the film-makers wanted to imply that the supernatural elements which befall her are the part which is supposed to be real. I guess if you make it until the end you'll realise which parts were supposed to be 'real' and which weren't. Um, that's pretty much a summary of the movie. A girl - Julia Fields, would you believe! - moved into a rented house in Florida where she's slowly stalked by more and more supernatural events and entities.

And when I say 'slowly' I mean slow. The film isn't long (not that much over an hour), but it does tend to drag. I wanted to like this one more than I probably did, but there just isn't that much that happens. Unless I blinked and missed the part where the story explains why a young girl (who looks more like she should be in college) can rent her own home and never seems to have to work, the central character does little more than wander round the house in her pyjamas and then hears a noise.

I know some people will say that this is all done to build tension, but there comes a time when the audience is just crying out for something to actually happen. It doesn't help that Julia Fields lives on her own, therefore she doesn't really have many times where she can interact with any other character - until she encounters one creepy person after the next.

However, saying all that, I did make it until the end. It wasn't just because the film was so short that it was easy, but I actually quite liked the lead actress' performance and she certainly did her best with what little she was given. Plus I wanted to see whether there was going to be some sort of major twist/payoff in the final moments. I won't spoil the ending, but I will go as far as to say that, although this is an easy watch and has a few moments of creepiness, there isn't that much that a seasoned horror fan won't have seen before, meaning you can take or leave it really.

It's very clear that this account if from a mentally unstable person. Most of this could be explained by her stress level, medication misuse, and some sort of mental illness that causes hallucinations/time blindness. There was no "haunting." It's all just a woman's hallucinations and nightmares after moving into a new apartment.

The filmography is kinda crap. The house flips multiple times. Sometimes the outside door opens in, sometimes it opens outward. There was no consistency.

TLDR: It's just a mentally unstable young woman in Florida. Florida woman, if you will.

The acting was horrible, the characters were unlikable, and the plot line was a flop. It's a waste of time.

Okay, low budget, really frustrating and annoying dialogue, but wow. The ending is completely the opposite of what you'd expect. Based on a true story in some ways.

There should have been more characters involved, more depth to Julia's character other than blogging, and staying round the house in her pjs. I sort of get why, because the script was short and they wanted to get to the point but much better use is the English language was badly needed other then saying, totally, like, it's like, seriously. Like, like, really, I'm so, like. Look America you know there are many more words than that right? Is this how American girls talk really!? What in every film? Also a bit more clarity needed in the final third rather than us just being made to wonder.

Aside from all that, blown away as to how surprising this was. Well done this time. Audience reviews are lying.

I truly think that if you would of torched the writer and fired the director that the whole ideology of the film together along with the actress could really come through to shine in the true light that it should of. I Love the actress and absolutely can not wait for more films to come with her in them! I liked the landlord in the film as well but just camera quality and the filming together made it seem a little soapy to me. That ultimately come down to a bad director. Really the only thing that I liked about this film is the fact that the actress seems to of had more experience with acting then both the writer and director combined.