Abattoir

A bigger budget horror flick that changes up the haunted house plot a little bit. A journalist visits her sisters house some time after she is murdered to find the room she was killed in has been taken. Literally. Things get weird when she finds out someone has been buying up homes where tragic deaths occur and stripping the house of the room where they died. Who is doing this and where are they taking it? This is what she intends to find out as she sets out to her hometown.

The film does kick out a fair share of intense scenes. It is a very slow builder as you learn more and more taking its time for the climax for sure. It sort of had a feel of Rose Red with some twists. I think you'll enjoy this one.

The good:

Some gorgeous set design and interesting photography. Dayton Callie is splendid as the "villain." Some of the special effects are quite entertaining. Jessica Lowndes is very striking.

The bad:

Jessica Lowndes' acting is rather wooden, but Meryl Streep couldn't save this script.

If there was a script. The plot is utterly incomprehensible.

Heed the advice given regarding the haunted forest: Stay very far away!

In the end this is a confused and tedious movie. One of the main problems is the casting of the two leads who aren't very good. Jessica Lowndes diction is poor and her acting is wooden while Joe Anderson struggles to convince as a cop. The best acting comes from Dayton Callie & Lin Shaye, older hands that manage to cope with the script.

It does look pretty good and the haunted house is quite cool but overall this doesn't really work.

2.5 / 10.

The acting of the main actress was totally unimpressive to me. The plot of the film had potential, but it was very slow and became more and more uninteresting. Also the story has a lot of holes and it all ends without the explanation I have been waiting for throughout the film. I am definitely disappointed.

And this is true in almost every regard. You can start with the costume design (very classy, very noir) throughout to the set design. If I were to rate those things, the movie would receive a much higher vote from me. Beautifully shot (though it'd be tough to catch a bad side in regards of Jessica Lowndes) and edited, the technical aspect is in place so to speak.

But when it comes to the story and the characters, the movie has quite a few flaws. And while you will notice many at the beginning (it actually has a strong start), it will get apparent later on. Especially during the final set piece, it's one of those cases where you want to kill the characters yourself. For one, so it will be over quick and also to make sure they won't survive this (because ... you know they don't deserve to). It's just such a shame and a lot of talent going to waste ...