The Jonestown Haunting

Upon seeing the cover of "The Jonestown Haunting," one might expect a truly frightening experience with plenty of jump scares. However, the film fails to deliver on this promise. The confusion arises from its unclear direction; it is neither a genuinely terrifying horror film nor a documentary-style recount of the tragic Jonestown and Georgetown Temple Agricultural Project incident. This film lacks of coherence and fails to establish a clear identity and for some strange reason most of these low-budget productions proven evidence in limited special effects and the overuse of stock footage, which detracts from any potential suspense or fear. This is a film that potentially should aim more in the direction of a documentary, "The Jonestown Haunting" fails to capitalize on the gravity and significance of the Georgetown Temple Agricultural Project incident. This story is of immense historical importance, yet the film neglects to delve into the wealth of information available to make the production of the film more promising. The overlooks crucial details and fails to honor the complexity of the Jonestown story. Absolutely sad!!!

I could see this as a film school final project, because it has everything that a film requires, but none of it works at the right time. The acting was a bit wooden, although the actor who portrayed Rev. Jim Jones was fairly good. There are no supernatural elements present, save for the inward journey that Sarah takes to make peace with herself and sense out of a horrible tragedy. The roadside preacher could be seen as a literary Virgil, guiding the viewer through the mindset that the People's Temple hope to encompass, but ultimately strayed from. The story was original, in a sense, but at the end, they jumped the shark.

This film isn't very good, and it's not due to lack of trying. I can see everyone gave it a good shot, but it has no voice or reason to exist. Jim Jones actor did pretty good, the lead did alright. I think the script just wasn't ready and veered into way to much dialogue that felt straight up written and not natural, there's only so much the cast and crew could do with this material. They need to change their poster to something that actually reflects the film.

I find it so hard to believe this cost $1,000,000, you could make ten of these films for that price (which they should have done). This is the perfect case of "don't make a film just because you can, make a film because you have a hard-on for it!"

Whew! I went into this film with a slight expectation of maybe being entertained or hopefully have a scare or two. Oh boy was I wrong! This film is absolutely terrible... Why? Answer: Very-very bad acting, filming, music, dialogue, story line, music, sound effects, locations and plot. I am actually shaking my head typing this review, wondering what the heck I was thinking watching this dismal excuse of a so called film. Ag no man! This scores a So-So-Very-Very-BAD! -2000 out of 10!

EEEEEK! You have been warned! GAWD!!!

This was definitely...a movie. Unfortunately, one you might remember for a while.