The Moth Diaries

Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) is 16 year old and still haunted by her father's suicide. Her best friend is her roommate Lucy (Sarah Gadon) at her boarding school. Ernessa Block (Lily Cole) is the new girl and she befriends Lucy to the dismay of Rebecca. The mysterious new girl somehow got friend Charley (Valerie Tian) expelled. After Rebecca and Dora (Melissa Farman) witness Ernessa do something supernatural, Dora is later found dead falling off a ledge. There is also a new teacher Mr. Davies (Scott Speedman) at the school.

This could have been a creepy Gothic horror movie. Mary Harron who made 'American Psycho' still pose the same problem to me as before. Her sparse style really stripes away the tension. She doesn't elevate the material and there is some good material here. More importantly, there are some great actors here trying their best. However, the movie never takes off. There is just a lack of tension. There is a lack of visual style. This is a bland execution. The female melodrama promises something that is never emotionally delivered. It's potentially an interesting horror but Harron doesn't know how to make one. Of course, this one doesn't have Christian Bale.