Wait Till Helen Comes

Somewhere in the country, a long-haired girl walks into a body of water. We do not see her face and assume she's the story's main character. That would be moody teenager Sophie Nelisse (as Molly). True, she could also be a 100-year-old ghost with the world's first hair curling iron. Apparently, the ghostly girl appears to get you interested in this story, and she serves as an attention grabber. The story shifts to 1982 Baltimore, Maryland, where our main family is moving. The children are the ones to watch. They are the alluring Ms. Nelisse, her little brother Liam Dickinson (as Michael) and their spooky little step-sister Isabelle Nelisse (as Heather). The family moves into a creepy-looking old church located next to a graveyard...

When you see the family's darkly Gothic new home, you know weird stuff is going to happen. And, from the introduction of spooky little Isabelle Nelisse (the girls are real-life sisters), you know who is ripe for possession. The little girl immediately walks and acts like a ghost. In case you think she might be normal, we see her wander out in the woods and pick up a butterfly with her bare hand...

Butterflies are normally shy around people...

They don't like to be petted...

This story is based on the novel "Wait Till Helen Comes" by Mary Downing Hahn, which was undoubtedly better. The author appears on screen, as a librarian. Her basic tale parallels most ghost stories, and it is nicely plotted. The relationships formed by a "step-family" add interest, but the film adaptation certainly doesn't make the most of them. Young Dickinson is most convincing as the initially skeptical little brother and it's nice to hear Nat King Cole's "Ramblin' Rose" is still getting airplay after all these years. Director Dominic James and his crew make the most of an atmospheric setting, which is nicely photographed by Rene Ohashi. It and the story take no time to grow and develop, however. Ghost stories should be much less direct.

**** Little Girl's Secret (11/12/2016) Dominic James ~ Sophie Nelisse, Liam Dickinson, Isabelle Nelisse, Maria Bello

I'm sorry. I watched this movie just getting into watching horror movies, and I thought this would be good. I almost fell asleep while watching this. Sure there's a little bit of storyline, but absolutely no violence or scariness. When there was what sounded like a jumpscare, I was excited only for it to be Molly's dad. This movie felt so long. There was like nothing interesting but the one flashback scene towards the end. I was very disappointed in this film. The characters weren't even good. I really had hopes in this movie from the trailer, but it lied. It was absolutely nothing like the trailer. 2/10.

The stage curtains open ...

Based on a popular 1986 YA novel, this supernatural thriller was released 30 years later. I'd never heard of either the book or the film before today, but I was thumbing through some streaming options and found this one out there. I decided to give it a watch. I'm always up for a good, dark, mystery thriller - especially if there is a ghost involved. I have seen a few good ones, so I was hoping that this would surprise me and turn out to be a hidden gem.

Set in 1982, a family moves from Baltimore to a small, secluded town where all the kids attend one school. They move into an old church that has been converted into a house - and nearby, there is a cemetary and the ruins of another house which burned down over 200 years prior. We follow the story of Molly, the troubled teen that hates her new house and resents the fact that she is responsible for watching out for her younger sister, Heather. However, when Molly begins to believe that Heather is speaking to another young girl who is a ghost from the graveyard, and who has the same intials as Heather (H. E. H.) - she must put aside her frustrations and save her sister from a terrible fate.

Well, this wasn't a hidden gem, but it wasn't bad. To be honest, this is a rather, plain and average thriller. Color by numbers and formulaic. All the usual tropes are here: a teen girl who nobody believes or listens to, an old man who knows a thing or two about the dead, a visit to the library to uncover some pertinent history, and an ending complete with a vision of what happened leading to a life or death situation. There is absolutely nothing new or shocking, or even frightening here.

The film was shot very well though. The camera work and cinematography were excellent. The movie captures and holds an unsettling feeling from start to finish, and the pacing is never lagging. The story was well told and developed, and the acting was pretty good. This is the perfect ghost story for a young teen. Nothing too graphic or demonic. And for that demographic, I would recommend this film. But, for me personally, it was just "okay" - nothing special.

Moving to a new house in the countryside, a blended family attempting to heal their wounds together finds that their youngest daughter has taken up a friendship with a girl who supposedly died years ago and forces the oldest daughter to break the spirit's hold over her to save the family.

This one wasn't all that bad of an effort for the channel. One of the more engaging aspects here is the rather fun job this does with building up the idea of the ghostly friendship that develops throughout here. These are far more intense than expected here as the first half gives this quite a solid set-up to start in on the ghost appearing to them, letting the first half then be filled with some rather enjoyable elements featuring the slowly-emerging cause of her befriending the ghost. Due to the film going for this slow-burn feeling of the revelation that comes about from her being slowly brought into the ghosts' control, together with the intriguing scenes of the flock of birds always seen to be congregating over their house or the girls' fascination with the spot in the woods where she plays that tends to freak out her sister, alongside a nice burgeoning mystery which gives this a lot to really like. Once it moves into the buildup and goes into actual supernatural antics, this one picks up and becomes incredibly fun. With this one delving into the fine buildup about the ghost girl and her intentions early on, the later half pays off these scenes rather nicely with the scenes painting her as a troubled, miscreant youth with these supernatural scenes playing up the possibility that she could potentially be doing it herself instead of the ghost so that the scenes of the swarming insects in the house or the fantastic revelations made that solve the mystery once and for all. That leads to the thrilling finale where it finally plays off these issues in grand style not only with the flashback but also the present-time action which are all woven together rather well. These here help to build this one up pretty decently although there are a few flaws present. As is to be expected from the channel's output, there are large sections of the film that really aren't that enjoyable for hardcore horror fans. Due to needing to keep the entire affair as family-friendly as possible, this one really struggles at times to be a horror film with the constant need to quit the building of suspense in order to keep the more appropriate forms of drama intact. Rather than engage with a rather intriguing and enjoyable ghost story about the house and its effects on the family, this one tends to go more into the teenage daughter's rightful annoyance and aggravation at the living predicament which isn't interesting, enjoyable or creative. It adds a drama-like feel to this one that undercuts a lot of the tension and suspense being built up which is a disappointment. As well, that also means that there's just not a whole lot of intense or truly thrilling moments this one could've had by keeping it censored and restricted for as much as it does, which isn't as detrimental but does hold it back somewhat.

Rated Unrated/PG-13: Violence, Language and children-in-jeopardy.

This isn't a Disney flick, but it easily could have been because it's the kind of film Disney produced as a Ghost Story back in the 60s. Nothing really scary at all, but mysterious--and there are ghosts. Fun for the whole family. A nice Ghost Story for the holidays.