A Haunting in Salem

Basically what you have in A HAUNTING IN SALEM is one very boring movie, the plot consist of a new sheriff moving into a new house with his family located in the little town Salem, where strange things start to happen and soon the sheriff realizes their new home is haunted by vengeful spirit.

If I give more of a synopsis I would spoil the film but this thing is so unoriginal and predictable its not even funny and what's worse, the pacing is so slow I thought the pause button on my DVD player was stuck, the acting however was painfully bad, the guy in the lead role was totally missed cast, even though I have seen a few ugly guys with hot wives and great looking kids so its not unusual but this guy just didn't look right for the part and you can tell he's not very comfortable in the lead role and the rest of the cast are just annoying, plainly put.

Of course this film is directed by Shane Van Dyke who also did TITANIC 2 and this is only what I heard, this guy doesn't give a crap about the casting or the acting, he just slams a film together and isn't too concerned with how it turns out, which could be true since the absolute worst films from Asylum are directed by him and they also include PARANORMAL ENTITY(a rip off of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and an early 80's horror film called THE ENTITY) and a western called 6 GUNS if that's the correct title.

All in all, I recommend you pass on this one it'll just put you to sleep or annoy the hell out of you.

Arriving in a small town, a sheriff and his family find the new house they've moved into is the home to a ravenous ghost that was initially burned alive as a witch in the town's past and tries to get them out of the creature's wrath before succumbing to its rampage.

This here wasn't that bad of an effort. One of the better features here comes from the film taking place in the typically creepy and chilling house which manages to utilize a great mixture of both the classic and more modern elements. The main house, full of the creaking wooden hallways and panels, sharp corners and the general air of history seeping through the walls really looks like the appropriate old- school, historically chilling house that maintains a suitable setting for the modern appliances that are at play here. Those more modern influences, from their ability to interact with the teens over the computer messenger or appearing to manipulate their visions, really begins to drive him insane as these tactics come off really well. These deliver some great hauntings as the scene of them pulling the hair from the shower drain with a tooth embedded in it, the gagging daughter hallucination or the different flash visions that keep occurring around the house showing them strung u in a hanging-style scenario which springs up quite often here to torment him. These scenes here provide the great framework for the actions leading up to the big finale in the actions of the possessed over the rest of the family which gives this one some great scenes of her utilizing the supernatural antics to attack and torment the others by popping up around them or launching attacks that are really much more impressive than expected to generate some nice bloody deaths immersed into the fine action. These here are what really works, though there's a few flaws to be found here. The biggest issue to be found is the really weak and half-hearted storyline that manages to be quite a cliché as well as goes for the cop-out explanation of everything which makes for a wholly simplistic affair. What should've been a thrilling exploration of the history of the house and the things going bump inside is instead glossed over in such a quick fashion that it really loses a lot of potential here by simply spelling everything out in one quick scene gives this one quite a lame buildup. It really could've given this one a greater sense of fear and suspense had this one gone for a more realistic route that allowed for the film to pace itself a little more. Even more to the point is the way this one goes for the overly familiar route of the ghostly haunting being presented here, from the troubled figure driven insane by what's going on to the point of madness against the disbelief of his family, the townsfolk who know it all and the ghosts coming back to seek revenge on such wrong-doers which gets targeted by their rampage all being quite familiar elements that are at play here, and all told the story here is quite disappointing. As well, the low-budget look here is another factor to hold this one back, from the cramped-in feeling of the house and the early attack scenes to the CGI and the effects in general this one tends to have the low-budget feel that's hard to get over. These here are the film's flaws.

Rated R: Language and Violence.

A haunting in Salem is anything but original. Full of your standard horror tropes and clichés you'll have seen every bit of it before but done a whole hell of a lot better.

Telling the story of a Sheriff and his family moving into a house with a dark past connected to witches (It is Salem after all) You'll see every scene coming a mile off and despite the budget very little of it even looks remotely good.

The Good:

Courtney Abbiati

The Bad:

Clichéd everything

Things I learnt from this movie:

A throw from a 3 story window will merely wind you

And he moved into a haunted house!!! And apparently the House wants to kill him and his family as it has done for generations. Really somewhat of a snoozefest was what this was. I would not recommend. 3/10

Anytime you have a story set in Salem, you naturally expect witches, fire and dark magic. In A Haunting in Salem, you get the witch, dark events and a bit of burning. From the movie's DVD cover, it says this story was taken from actual events, so was real life as scary as fiction? The plot centered on the new sheriff of Salem and his family, who've moved into a sweet, Victorian home. It's excessively large, even for four people, but it'd been the dwelling of every sheriff who'd presided over the town for years. While unpacking, everyone experienced strange and unexplainable occurrences, but soon, the entire family is in mortal danger. Sadly, there' s not a soul around who can help with truth, let alone answers. The story presents a cycle; the very beginning shows you what happened to the previous family, then the new sheriff, complete with mental issues, came along. What you aren't given is a reason for it all. Was it revenge? Had the previous sheriffs carried a blood connection, allowing the townspeople to invite them, as a sort of sacrifice? It ended, gifting wonder as to why it even happened. The cinematography, concerning the town and surrounding views were spectacular! Even the house was lovely, but there really wasn't much as far as storyline. With little scare, A Haunting in Salem entertained, but disappointed. Cheers!

A Haunting in Salem Written by H. Perry Horton Directed by Shane Van Dyke Produced by The Asylum Stars Bill Oberst, Jr., Courtney Abbiati, Jenna Stone and Nicholas Harsin