The Occupants

It's like someone wrote a first draft of a script and then nobody checked it

It is no secret that I do enjoy the horror genre, and often sit down to watch just about anything that falls within this genre. And when I happened to find "The Occupants", I must admit that I was initially lured in by the movie cover/poster, because it did seem like it could have potential as a slasher movie. Little did I know that this was actually a supernatural ghost movie.

However, I didn't manage to make it more than 35 minutes into this movie before I tossed the towel in the ring. I did so out of what can best be described as utter and complete boredom. From what I managed to sit through, I was nowhere near being entertained or being impressed. And I can honestly say that I have no intention of returning to finish the rest of the movie.

The characters in the movie were one-dimensional and rigid, which didn't really help the movie one bit. And the dialogue wasn't particularly thrilling either.

"The Occupants" had the level of acting which was to be expected from a movie of this sort, for better or worse.

If you enjoy horror movies, then there are far better choices available. I can't really think of a single reason for recommending that you actually take the time or the effort to sit through this ordeal of a movie.

After moving into a new house, a woman and her husband find the place haunted by the violent tragedy of the former occupants of the house and try to stop those actions from happening to them and her new baby.

This here is a really weak and overall bland thriller disguised as a horror film. The biggest issue with this one is the fact that the central premise is nothing to really get worked up over, and it shows in the reactions of the characters. The primary focus is one the shots of the woman losing her mind over the events that transpire, yet none of what happens early on in this is enough to warrant such actions to take place and even worse off, doing so with the rather bland happenings that this goes through being just so unnecessary and uninviting that the reactions to them are completely unrelated to the events portrayed. That these in turn lead into the film's main segment being a series of investigations into whatever happened to the previous owners is so boring and lifeless that after such a troubling opening it sucks the energy out of the movie from there with endless scenes of her going over documents and papers that fill up time so that it's just so hard to stay invested in the movie as a whole from there on. The main subplot about these scenes is the film's second biggest issue, the constant referrals to the counselor friend she thinks is taking advantage of her yet is the first person she goes to whenever there's a bump in the night or a weird flash-vision she has, and despite every attempt to the contrary to make us believe he's some sort of creepy psychopath, he comes off as calm and level-headed about the situation while she rants and raves like a maniac then turns the tables back on him saying he's the one trying to screw her around. This happens a good three or four times after a conversation saying that she'll have nothing to do with him, so this in fact becomes extremely troubling and confusing as to why this goes on. Since the film earlier made mention of the fact that the supernatural haunting actions were unwarranted of the extreme reactions taken, that in turn brings up the fact that the majority of the supernatural going on here is really not that scary and oftentimes just plain dull, with a few somewhat decent scares here including the appearance of a demonic face on the wall hidden behind a poster, the ghostly visions of women running around the house and the ominous threat of violence depicted towards the infant son which does have a hint of believability to it, yet whatever happens is then undone by the absolutely ridiculous finale that makes no sense and undermines the general plot of what came before it. These are really enough problems to lower this one significantly.

Rated R: Violence, Language, children-in-jeopardy and a shadowy sex scene.

I actually really enjoyed this movie. It's not the worst acting ever and the music kinda kills the mood but of all the lower rated films I've seen, this one deserves more credit than it gets.

What do you tell a young mother who sees ghosts in her house, that she is perhaps under stress, dreaming, confabulating? What happens when her husband sees them too? Lucy works as a counsellor, and while her other half wants them to vacate what is obviously their dream home complete with security fence, she believes the night visitors are not regular apparitions, as in dead people, but a living family that is in desperate need of terrestrial assistance. She confides in a colleague - and former lover - who thinks she is gaga, and refuses to give her any practical help, although he does suggest she seeks help of the psychiatric kind.

After her decision to stay put, things get worse, a lot worse. Was it really such a good idea to bring in a psychic? Unfortunately, this initially promising film soon loses its way. Lucy may indeed have gone gaga by the end, but this is so confusing you don't really know what she has done, what has happened, what is real, what is not, who is the bad guy, and if he is really a demon. Don't waste your time on this one.