Beneath

Horror flick: girl returns home after traumatic accident earlier in her life and is she possessed and crazy due to the trauma of that accident or is it those around her who are mad? The girl is either a psycho or the only sane one in the asylum. A feast of weird characters are in this play quite apart from the lead. There is the Bett Davis type housekeeper, the child who sees dead people or something like that; there is the sinister male in the house and lets' not forget the deformed and deceased ugly sister who may still be with us....etc Throw in the illusions being suffered by our main star and add in multi layers of other complications then beneath goes even deeper. I almost turned this off a few times only because it had become too confusing, though ultimately all is mostly explained and there are some decent moments. 5/10

I have to say that I didn't expect much from this film when I rented it today, but I was really surprised by it.

Although the film's story is quite a cliché as is suggested by the back of the DVD case, in my opinion it's done surprisingly good. A pretty conclusive story, except perhaps for the start of it all, not too bad acting and a nice music score form into a decent mystery thriller. I liked how the heroine actually investigates quite a bit throughout the movie instead of just getting the conclusions laid out for her in front of her eyes. Additionally the film doesn't use too many flashy, cheap shock moments and successfully tries to depend more on the mystery itself. And, contrary to the cliché, the heroine doesn't behave exceptionally stupid all the time.

On the downside you won't have many surprises coming in the story if you've seen at least a few mystery thrillers. The ending actually managed to satisfy me, a feat rarely achieved by that genre of movies.

If you like mystery thrillers and always thought that those loud, noisy "in your face" shock moments are overused you should try this movie.

Christy (Nora Zehetner) is haunted by her sister Vanessa's death. On her 14th birthday, Vanessa allowed her to drive the convertible. They had an accident and Vanessa got trapped and burnt. During her funeral, Christy was convinced that Vanessa was alive trapped in the closed coffin. In the present day, Christy returns home to attend a funeral. Vanessa's husband John Locke, her niece Amy, and John's strict French mother are still living at home. Christy is having hallucinations and suspects John of malfeasance as Vanessa's doctor but no one believes her. Amy suspects a ghostly presence in the home.

This seems to be a couple of production companies trying their hands at horror. It struggles to be anything new or compelling. It should have been a simple haunted house movie. Christy could stay with the Lockes and forced to stay to save Amy. That's what I assumed it was going for when she has her hallucinations in the house. Then she gets friends, has cops, and flashbacks to the hospital. It's trying to be a shocking story and it does have a great twist. The big Vanessa twist is completely predictable and tiresome as the reveal gets stretched out. The Amy twist is the much better one. This is a weak attempt.

Safe MTV produced chiller that finds Nora Zehetner haunted by images linked to the horrific death of her elder sister when she was a little girl. The frustrating thing is that the picture is book ended by great horror sequences, in fact the finale is one of the best that horror offered up in 2007 if judged on rug pull and macabre terms, if only the whole middle section didn't meander along without thoughtful scares or adherence to screw tightening genre requirements.

The set up is pretty good, it's a classic spooky house scenario with secret passages and rooms you wouldn't want to be alone in. The inhabitants of the house feature a suspicious but angelic little girl, and a Mrs. Danvers scary woman type. Director Dagen Merrill does his best to bring the frights, but he's heavy handed in execution, while the cheapness of the production unfortunately stands out a mile. That said, there's enough here to warrant interest if stuck for a spooky thriller to watch on a cold night in by the fire. Certainly the finale is worth time spent with the weak middle section. 6/10

I expected a bit much, since I made the mistake to read the "Diamond among pearls" comment. Back to reality: the acting is mediocre towards bad, the story is boring and the scary stuff is just a girl having weird visions. The fact that overall it makes sense is a plus, especially for the "psychically sensitive girl that no one believes" subtype of the horror genre.

Bottom line: this is more of a psychic thriller and not a horror movie. The last part, while it conveniently ties all the loose ends, is way too convenient, more of a moral compromise that breaks the slightly better feel of the story coming to a quasi-logical finale. I can easily imagine all the actors playing in a third rate soap opera, so don't expect a lot better acting that that.