User reviews

Oh Lord this is a waste of time. Absolutely NOTHING original in this film. The acting was bad, no emotion, like they were reading from a teleprompter. I'm not sure what the first minute of the movie was about, I guess a kid scared by "Disney's Halloween Treat" would have been scared by it, but it was like a psychotic dream of someone's. The ending? Who even cared? Nothing original there either. Go watch a wall of paint dry instead of watching this movie. The reason I gave it two stars was, the castle itself was nice.

This movie has the standard haunting story, nothing new here. I am fine with that. Being a big consumer of horror films, I am used to new films using old story lines.

HOWEVER, and that's a big however, the acting in this movie is deplorable. It is painful to watch the lead female actor "acting". For most of the dialogue she appears to be reading off a script, rather than acting. It all seems very forced. It is just impossible to immerse yourself in the story when the characters are so unbelievable. As the title of this review says, this is the perfect movie not to watch - I suggest doing laundry instead, as that is bound to be a better experience than watching this movie.

Standard research crew in a haunted house shtick flick but with less screaming. Some of the make-up is good but there's no money for special effects, only a shaking camera and flashing coloured lights. Nesbitt is a good actor, and others have potential but it's marred by scenes where the dialogue is bad and feels like lines being read at each other. This would've been better suited as a TV movie 30 years ago.

Please don't. You know you have those movies that are so bad, they're good? Well this isn't one of them.

I made the mistake of letting my wife have free reign over the tv remote tonight and this was the result. After 10 minutes she was asking to put Strictly back on. I told her I was going to make her watch this film until it finished. To add insult to injury, she then told me that she'd rented it (through my Sky account).

Just over half way through, my wife said she had to go and check on our daughter. I didn't see her again until after the film had finished.

Looking for some horror films to watch during the Pandemic, I stumbled across this hot mess. The film mixes together clunky script, extremely bad acting, and the unintentionally funny moments to make for one of the single worst horror films in recent memory. Let's take for example the scene in the pub where all the characters talk ad nauseum about what Welsh Rarebit is! My favorite moment is when the medium is "seized" by one of the ghosts, and the character's response is to say, "She's gone! We can't help her." That was a laugh out loud moment. The actors playing the ghosts seem more like children dressing up for Halloween than anything remotely scary. Unless you want to use this film for a Mystery Science Theatre party, I'd suggest you use 90 minutes for something else.

Good grief this is awful. Seriously dull monotone stilted dialogue, cringeworthy outdated cliches about the British (cue lots of comments about how we're all apparently obsessed with the weather, have terrible teeth and go misty eyed at the thought of going to America). Slow action, an entire scene focussed on a character putting her dinner in a microwave. Turned it off after half hour (the film not the microwave). Seriously don't waste your time. The first moment where it was meant to be scary we burst out laughing. We were rooting for the ghosts.

Very mediocre acting as a team of ghost hunters explore the castle best thing the movie has going for it is the fact it's a real place that the movies based on. In my opinion it's a serious snoozefest as it takes forever for anything to happen and when it does happen theres no gore or anything associated with a good horror flick. So low budget that they couldnt even afford descent cgi for blood. Dont waste your time.

So let's start with paranormal psychologists that don't believe in ghosts!?? Then being sent to a castle with a reputation for being haunted and not seeming to have any interest!?? So, I wondered what kind of idiot would even write a story line like this. Then there's the acting....is the acting sub par, or is it the script. The story line would suggest the script, but then again maybe both. I kept waiting for the story to develop into something, but I was left wanting. No satisfaction came from this movie right up to the end. The scenery was the only thing that was somewhat satisfying.

I have been alive for 32 years, watched many a film but nothing as perfected, awe inspiring, and truly beautiful as this film. I swear this film touches on how acting should be portrayed as this was a masterclass in today's acting! None of the A list celebrities nowadays have nothing on this group of champions. I was completely terrified from start to finish, literally could not predict anything that was about to happen, I was on a rollercoaster of emotions and this film, by god, touched every single last one! From the shrieking fear to the sadness of characters coming and going. I must request a sequel to this beauty as there is now a hole in my life which this can only fill.

It doesn't feel altogether fair to focus solely on this low-budget supernatural horror film's obviously pecuniary failings, and while the admittedly derivative shocker most certainly has its myriad flaws, I would rather stress the production's more positive aspects. While 'The Haunting of Margam Castle' is fundamentally yet another rather predictably creaky haunted house yarn, replete with angsty parapsychologists, nosily Scooby Doo-ing around its ghoulishly storied, dank walled environs, the director eschews some of the more actively tedious found footage tropes in a stalwart attempt to, perhaps, harken back to the spookily cobwebbed likes of 'The Legend of Hell House', and the still greatly undervalued 'The Evil', while not entirely successful in its execution, weirdly lacking any grandstanding gore, and woefully lacking budget, I nonetheless quite enjoyed 'The Haunting of Margam Castle', especially pleasing was the welcome, and somewhat (Tea)cosy presence of UK genre icons Caroline Munro, Vernon Dobcheff, Derren Nesbitt, and the eternally wonderful Jane Merrow, again, I am usually far more forgiving than many other horror fans, but I strongly believe in supporting the more meritorious efforts of the B-Movie underdogs, but, to be entirely fair, some may find this spook-show to be a little tame, but the still delightful Caroline 'Maniac' Munro playfully discussing the culinary merits of Welsh rarebit was a suitably tasty titbit!

Never seen such bad acting. Script terrible, directing poor, editing awful.

I feel ashamed about giving it 1, but I had to so I could be published.

I just wasted 121mins of my life watching this low budget, lousy and STUPID movie! I was intrigued by the history of the castle thinking it'll be something worth watching only to turn out a total waste of time!

I really can't add anything new to the any other review here. I have no problem with choosing a cliché story but at least you could try for some acting maybe? It is so bad that it makes you laugh. Each line, each scene they are so bad, it gives you cringe. Waste of time. If you watch a murder House documentary you certainly can engage more than this. So don't bother watching it. Not even one person acts well. I ended up turning it off after flashback scene. Because clearly this is a school project and they didn't even have money for fake blood. No further than a group of friends trying to make a so called horror haunting using only their emotionless faces.

Very low budget ghost story. Good to see Derren Nesbitt, Vernon Dobtcheff, and former Hammer Glam-queens Caroline Munro, Jane Merrow, and Judy Matheson back onscreen, but the younger cast members are poor - especially 'lead' actress, Amy Quick, who is just dreadful.

Some welcome old faces and a great location scrape this a 4/10

I don't even know where to begin. The storyline was utter tripe and the acting were appalling. It's the type of movie that's so stupid you have to watch it to the end, just to see the idiocy even if its 81 mins of your life you'll never get back.

I must admit that I had hoped for just a tad more from this 2020 movie titled "The Haunting of Margam Castle" than what writer and director Andrew Jones managed to deliver.

Initially I was intrigued by the movie's cover/poster, and it did seem to be a movie that could be interesting. And with it being a horror movie dealing with a haunting, of course I was interested and had to watch the movie.

However, "The Haunting of Margam Castle" turned out to be a very slow paced and even less interesting movie. Nothing much of any worth or interest happened throughout the prolonged movie, running at such a slow pace that it almost felt like torture sitting through the ordeal.

The storyline was just downright pointless and uneventful, to be bluntly honest. And that was what sank the movie well below mediocrity, because its production level was actually adequate.

For a horror movie, the most scary part about "The Haunting of Margam Castle" was how devoid of anything even remotely scary that director managed to present to the audience. And the haunts that were in the movie didn't even feel like ghosts or apparitions in any way. So it was a very stale movie in terms of frights and scares.

The acting in "The Haunting of Margam Castle" was bland, taking into consideration that the actors and actresses literally had nothing to work with. I wasn't familiar with a single performer in this movie.

All in all, "The Haunting of Margam Castle" is not worth the effort. If you enjoy a good horror movie that gives you the chills or makes the hair at the back of your neck stand up, you should definitely watch something else, because "The Haunting of Margam Castle" is not going to do the trick.

The cover/poster brandish "the most haunted building in the United Kingdom. Well, if that was the level of haunting and ghost activity, then the UK is a pretty dead zone.

I am rating this 2020 movie a generous three out of ten stars, based mostly on its production level.

Considering this was supposed to be set in South Wales I only heard ONE Welsh voice very briefly.

Apart from that, this film was very long and drawn-out viewing. At some points it seemed as though something interesting was about to get started only to fade away to more tedium.

Some of the acting was very wooden - the only saving grace being the brilliant Darren Nesbit whose acting seemed to carry parts of the film.

It is a shame. This could have been a very good film, but overall it fails to deliver and it is hard not falling asleep watching it.

I was aware of the poor reviews of this film when I settled down to watch it - but decided I'd view it with an open mind, particularly as some veteran big-name actors were among the cast.

The opening credits seemed fine, but then the action began in New York... clearly filmed in the UK with actors employing very unconvincing American accents!

This didn't bode well for what was to come and, with footage of their motorway journey to Wales filmed from their car's window, it was starting to look a bit amateurish.

The wonderful Caroline Munro is wasted in a scene where the aforementioned American ghostbusters stop off for lunch - and from there we follow them to the castle.

The film then employs (or plagiarizes) every horror cliche in the book as the group set up for the night at the haunted castle. The castle itself looks impressive - it's probably one of the best things about the film.

From here onwards though, the scares are pretty mild and predictable, and terminal boredom starts to set in.

The best thing about their stay is seeing Darren Nesbit as their castle guide - and he does his best.

I'm sorry to say though that this film falls very flat, and seems like a wasted opportunity considering some of the acting talents involved.

If like me you're a fan of Caroline Munro, you'll probably enjoy her single scene - otherwise I'd say stay away from this particular horror show!

I am very surprised, after reading the bulk of these comments, to see that many of the commenters seem not to realize MARGAM CASTLE is a deliberate homage, and its "tropes" intentionally reference several widely known horror movies of the past. There's THE HAUNTING (both versions), THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, THE SIXTH SENSE, WITCHFINDER GENERAL, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, THE SHINING, BURNT OFFERINGS, and THE OTHERS to name some obvious ones. Then there's the casting of Hammer actresses Jane Merrow and Caroline Munro with the 85 year old Darren Nesbitt from 1972's BURKE & HARE. Also there's the inclusion of H. P. Lovecraft's legendary NECRONOMICON (in a Commemorative Edition no less).

The film was made for TV (and is rated TV 14) hence the lack of sex, blood, and ultra violence. Apparently, however, the Brits aren't as sensitive as Americans would be about use of language for their legacy TV movies. Rather than using traditional 35mm film, MC was shot digitally which gives it that flat video look and makes it appear darker on smaller screens. All in all I enjoyed MARGAM CASTLE immensely and would recommend it to allow one the chance to experience the gist of several horror films rolled into one movie, and doled out with a very wry sense of humor. The pub scene with Caroline Munro is a prime example (Welsh Rarebit anyone?). The smug, totally clueless dialogue of the American researchers at the beginning is another.

I'm always on the lookout for horror films which exclude gratuitous sex and excessive gore. To say there have been precious few made since the late 1960s when the Production Code was scrapped is an understatement. Over the top horror has been the norm now for almost 60 years, which is why I prefer ghost stories instead, and MARGAM CASTLE certainly qualifies as this. An interesting question might be, if MARGAM CASTLE hadn't been made for TV would the filmmakers have gone for a hard R rating, and include what would make it qualify. They certainly were given plenty of opportunities to do so. It would have been easy to spice up the bathtub scene, for instance, or the burning segment to mention only two. I'm actually quite sure they would have, but very glad they didn't...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

Everyone please ignore all of the awful reviews .. people do not know what they are talking about. What an amazing movie , brilliant acting by the wonderful cast, really believable scary story, top notch editing. Overall a truly gorgeous film to match the gorgeous scenery. I've just finished watching it but guess what? I'm Going to whack it straight back on it was really that good!

I love the fact that every thing all made sense! Nothing was too confusing or far fetched. The whole movie looked completely real. The lights that shone on the castle towards the end of the movie reminded me of a spooky ghost tour.

Ps. I'll 100% be making me some Welsh RAREbit xx.

Nothing particularly original about the premise but the gothic architecture of the location which is well shot ensures the movie is dripping with atmosphere. The addition of several veteran actors gives it a bit of a Hammer/Amicus feeling but the real standout is the castle itself which feels like the most evil character in the story than the ghosts themselves. Some good old school scares.

Sadly I wasted about 60 minutes of my life watching this disaster of a film and I couldn't even watch it to the end as it was so bad. The supposed horror scary bits were not scary at all and didnt make me jump like a really good ghost story will do