A Haunting at the Rectory

Watched this and was extremely disappointed. It's not actually a horror film, a more accurate description would be a drama without any drama. Nothing actually happens, characters just mope around rooms and moan about their lives. The acting is abysmal and could not even be classed as amateur dramatics standard.The actor that plays Frank Peerless is ironically named as I've never seen someone act so badly. I've no idea where he got the idea to talk in a mock cockney/toff accent- but its laughable. The vicar is about as wooden as they come and the whole thing is unbelievable and would be laughable if it wasn't so tedious.

If this is the standard of British filmaking there is no hope.

I thought this movie was supposed to be about a haunted place, but it is, in fact, about infidelity. The story focuses on the Reverend's wife and the handyman's affair almost exclusively; so much that the supposed "paranormal" events look totally out of place.

This movie did not get anything right. It didn't look or feel like 1930 at all (I've seen documentaries about the 30s). The actors seemed wrong for their respective roles. The events were unrealistic and the characters' response to them illogical. The movie didn't seem to know where it wants to go or what it wants to do with itself.

The paranormal events were so few, so exaggerated, discorded and random that it'd make you think that, perhaps, they were edited into this movie from another movie by mistake.

The description: "A Reverend and his wife discover their new home has a deadly secret."

O.K., what "deadly secret"? Unless I missed something, this "secret" was never revealed...

I really don't understand the paranormal connection at all. This movies is about a cheating wife, not about paranormal activity. I didn't get what the ghost drivel, that was randomly shoved into a movie of entirely different genre, had to do with anything or what connection it was supposed to have to the story.

Basically, the whole thing is poorly pieced together and a bit messy. Perhaps it would appeal to "drama"- or even "crime"-lovers, but to label it as "mystery" is highly misleading to say the least.

I feel embarrassed in particular for the lead actress. She is the worst out of the 3 so called actors. Real amateur dramatics caught on film. Is this why we pay so much for streaming services for them to insult us with this crap.

First of all, this is nowhere near a 'horror', it's not even a reasonable ghost story. Neither is it a reasonable thriller or suspense movie, nor a drama worth any weight at all.

Just because a film is low budget doesn't mean the fundamentals of film making should be abandoned.

If a film is being presented as a certain time period make sure it looks the part. In other words, camouflage modern fitments for starters, even if it means using a bit of painted cardboard!! Modern light switches slap bank in the middle of the frame.

Next is don't shoot your own equipment! In several scenes attention to framing is non-existent. For example a massive light rig in the garden during a night scene.

Shaky shake works SOMETIMES. Hand-held effects can bring drama to a scene when used appropriately. In this movie it is used far too much when the emphasis should be on the characters and becomes annoying and distracting (someone MUST have watched this before finalising the shoot).

Learn to direct. So many many times in this movie the actors appeared to be left hanging wondering what to do next. Long pauses that made actors look like they had lost the plot became another annoyance.

As with directing - learn to edit! Many of the annoyances because of the lack of direction could have been addressed in editing. Conversations between characters were often slow and laboured - totally artificial.

Make sure your story reflects what you claim. The marketing for this film is as a horror. As in my opening comment, it isn't - nowhere near.

Having said that, if the technical problems with the film had been addressed and the actors given direction and the opportunity to rehearse more this could have been an interesting movie to watch.

The production team had the equipment, but the lack of attention to detail has yet again let down what could have been a decent film.

Okay so going into A Haunting at the Rectory otherwise known as American Poltergeist 5 - The Borely Haunting I expected a low budget ghost flick and for it to be absolutely terrible but I was sorely mistaken.

I mean okay it's pretty terrible so I wasn't wrong about that but this simply isn't a ghost flick and quite frankly the supernatural element is needlessly tacked on and shouldn't even exist.

Therefore this shouldn't be considered a horror at all, more of a drama as that is essentially what A Haunting at the Rectory is.

It tells the story of a Reverend and his wife who take on a new handyman. But the handyman is not what he seems, and the wife begins to see ghostly apparitions.

Again the supernatural element is minimal and simply shouldn't have been added. I assume it was simply to raise interest in the film deeming it only likely to succeed in the horror market.

Instead of a horror we have a reasonably paced but not very interesting British drama that ends on a passable twist but you'll likely be bored long before it arrives there.

Want a horror? Avoid. Want a dull drama, this is one for you.

The Good:

Cast are above par

Twist is passable

The Bad:

Just not very interesting

Very deceptive marketing