Finders Keepers

If I had known beforehand that Finders Keepers was a made-for-TV movie, distributed by SyFy, I probably would have given it a wide berth. As such, the film is, for the most part, a rather tepid tale that provides very few scares—yet another in a long line of derivative horror films that revolve around a creepy doll.

Jaime Pressly stars as Alyson Simon, mother and estranged wife, who moves into a new home with her young daughter Claire (Kylie Rogers). Life takes a turn for the worse for Alyson, however, when her little girl becomes obsessed with Lilith, the strange looking doll hidden that she discovers hidden under a floor vent. It's not long before Claire begins to exhibit very strange behaviour while those around her start to turn up dead.

This plot is so well-worn that it practically writes itself, with the girl and the doll becoming inseparable while her parents try to figure out what the hell is going on. Several characters are introduced simply to become victims: Tobin Bell as child psychologist Dr. Freeman, Marina Sirtis as nosy neighbour Janine, and Justina Machado as occult expert Professor Elena Carranza, whose nasty death scene—eyes plucked out and set alight—is easily the highlight of this otherwise forgettable fright flick.

For SyFy, Finders Keepers is not so bad and is a long way from their worst. As a movie in general though, it does have some good things and looks like some effort went into it but it doesn't quite come together. Starting with the positives, the movie actually looks good(and for a SyFy movie that is quite a compliment), with some very effective lighting, crisp editing and unobtrusive camera work. The music does create some atmosphere, not an exceptional one by all means but it fits the movie and doesn't try to be too obvious, the doll is very creepy-looking and there are some scary moments. A few performances come over quite well, the best of the lot coming from Kylie Rogers who is both adorable and terrifying, while Jaime Pressley is a sympathetic and somewhat touching mother figure. Most of the acting is not particularly strong, consisting of a lot of under-acting with Patrick Muldoon phoning it in, and Tobin Bell is wasted.

Finders Keepers as said has some moments that are scary and suspenseful, they only came in spades rather than the movie being continually creepy. Most of the movie was lacking in scares and atmosphere for me, it was more predictable than suspenseful, the gore and scare factor were too toned down a lot of the time and a lot of moments that should have been scary came across as silly instead. The characters are almost impossible to root for and connect with, they are very underdeveloped and you get frustrated with how stupid some of their actions are as a consequence perhaps of focusing too much on the relationship between Rogers and Pressley's characters and side-lining everybody else which was a large part of why most of the acting did not register.

The direction is technically competent but when it comes to maintaining momentum, atmosphere and making the characters and chemistry interesting it fails, and the dialogue is often horrid, the worst of which enough to make one cringe. The story had bags of potential and effort clearly was made to it with a very original idea, but it was a case of trying to do too much and not explaining enough, making it feel muddled and underwritten. Some of the plot twists border on idiotic, as seen in the senseless ending, and the story feels too padded out in places. And I wish they did more with the doll, it is a very creepily-designed character but there is a real sense that the writers weren't sure what it was, offering at least four different explanations as to what it really was but it was never made clear which one it actually was. Overall, for SyFy Finders Keepers was watchable but was in personal opinion was very lacking. It is not as though there isn't any talent on display here because there is, it is such a shame that that just didn't come across here. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Alyson (Jaime Pressly) and her daughter Clair (Kylie Rogers) move into a home, but unknown to them, it has an evil past. The people who lived there before them were murdered by their 8-yr old son who had become possessed by an evil doll. Now, Clair has become possessed by the same doll, which she found inside a vent in her room.

I have to say I was impressed by Jaime Pressly's acting in this. This is the first time I've seen her in a straight out dramatic role. Granted, I haven't seen that many things with her, but she was very good in this. However, I didn't like her hairstyle. The front of it wasn't bad, but the almost shaved back of her head was very odd to see on a woman, and they must have had about 4 different scenes where they had a close up of it. Kylie Rogers did a very good job as well as the troubled and possessed Clair. Patrick Muldoon portrayed Alyson's ex-husband. I haven't seen him in anything since Starship Troopers. He was more of a side-character in this, as the movie was much more focused on Pressly and Rogers.

I gave this a 4-star rating. I wouldn't want to see it again, because I'm not a fan of possession movies, but I enjoyed it enough to sit through it. I have to say that parts of this kind of reminded me of The Conjuring. For something from the SyFy channel, this was surprisingly watchable.

This film is so painfully awful. Basically, a family is murdered by their son who is possessed by a doll. 5 years later a divorced mother and her 9 yr old daughter move in. The kid finds the doll and then this absolute lazy joke of a film starts.

In short, both parents are going through a tough time with the divorce and now their 9 year old is throwing tantrums and being the most irritating rude child you could imagine. The daughter in this movie is just a brat, plain and simple. The director wants you to feel sorry for her but she screeches her way through an hour and half that I'll never get back.

There is a rinse and repeat in the film about 10 times. In short, everyone the little brat comes into contact with whether directly or indirectly, verbally or visually, she kills them. Well the doll kills them. So anytime someone appears on screen that's not her mother, father or Tobin Bell who is wasted in this movie by having 2 scenes as a child psychiatrist, they are gonna die. Some of them, under the same circumstances as people earlier in the film. Honestly it is laughable how both parents after finding out about at least a dozen murders don't decide to something other than stare in disbelief at their annoying little psycho daughter.

Save yourself the time and watch any other horror you come across

Some things better stay lost. Some things cannot be fully explained either. At least not rationally speaking. However you look at this it is a straighforward horror movie with maybe some recognizable faces from one place or another. Marina Sirtis got famous on the Star Trek Enterprise (with the next generation), but has not the main role here (and you may have different feelings regarding her cat lady character here).

Overall this is a decent effort (stab) at a well known formula. It's not Chucky and it's not Annabelle either. Then again, maybe you feel this is better than both combined (I doubt it, but it's all in the eye of the beholder).