Apparitional

A group of paranormal investigators need to deliver the goods to boost the ratings of their struggling TV show, so agree to film an episode in an old abandoned prison. Although long since abandoned, turns out the place might not be so empty as first thought of! 'Haunting of Cellblock 11' is a decent little low-budget horror/thriller with solid dialog and believable characters, and, despite a fairly slow start, a couple of effective scares pop up here and there. It's also a competently shot multi-camera affair, so despite the premise, there's very little in the way of single shaky camera 'found-footage' elements.

But one thing that instantly stands out are some better than average acting performances, and ultimate praise must go to the on screen husband and wife Jeffrey Johnson and Linara Washington. The pair share a convincing chemistry and very supportive, believable partnership throughout the film, and the few scenes where the sadly discuss their inability to have children is very touching, you literally want these two to make it through the ordeal. It's probably their relationship and the skill of the two actors that keeps you watching right through to the end.

Unfortunately some of the scares rely on pretty unconvincing CGI enhancements that are more ambitious than successful, and the film would have probably been more effective without them at all. Another problem is that something bad happens to one of the lead characters about half way through, and when he suddenly reappears later on, when asked what happened he essentially answers 'Oh man, I have no idea...', and it's never brought up again!

But 'Haunting of Cellblock 11' is still worth a watch. It tells a decent tale, has some reliable scares and all-around solid acting. I'm assuming there might also be a chance of some of the characters returning for another film?

7/10.

First, this movie is definitely worth watching. It is a lower-budget ghost-hunter movie that really exceeds expectations. It is really well acted with only a few scenes as the exception. It has a proper dose of humor throughout as well. At first I thought the lead guy was going to be like a poor man's Josh Gates, but soon realized I was wrong and his acting was spot-on. The other characters were enjoyable to watch also, and did a fine job. Don't get me wrong, there are some scenes that highlight the modest budget they must have been on, but on the whole it was a fun film to watch. The scares were there in the 2nd half mostly but the whole thing was done as well as could be expected. I took note that it was a good script if not always delivered the best way. It surprised me how much I enjoyed it. So if you're looking for horror and have seen most of what's out there, don't miss this one. One of the better portrayals of ghost hunting, the way it's done nowadays, that I've seen.

Getting a new Christmas themed horror movie is always an interesting occurrence to receive, especially in the unique, and some-what weird way presented in this movie. "A Christmas horror story" has ideas, executes them.. but they seem to fall a bit down..

We get multiple stories in this one film, delivering about four stories all at once, making an anthology. I honestly felt it annoying, and a bit hard to follow with the choice the filmmakers decided to go with, that being clumping all the stories delivered all at once, flipping from one scene, cutting it, and moving to the next constantly. This made it slightly annoying in the sense of our attention gripping on one part of a story given, and having it suddenly cut off, heading to another. Following that note, of course, are the stories themselves. The stories we were given were slightly clichéd, they, however managed to lift themselves from cliché garbage to a slightly nicer, more unique kind of way. They passed the clichéd to be a bit newer, more refreshed due to the way each story was heading. So in a way, they managed to rise up, and succeed the audiences cooperation. Another factor involving the stories, the pacing. I honestly didn't like the pacing in this movie. It felt way, way too slow then what if could of been, regarding each story of the anthology. The elements of which were leading up to the finale, involving for example the characters getting stuck were feeble attempts to clutch out attention, and it just didn't really work, instead boring us more, the audience wishing the events / stories were over. The movie's poster shows a battle between Krampus, and Santa. Sadly. Don't be fooled, this film does not revolve around our favorite Christmas devil, Krampus. In fact we don't get action involving Krampus at all until around the end of the film, disappointing myself, and others hoping for some action involving Krampus. And even when we get to the battle, and action scenes, we still don't get what we were hoping for, instead small scenes, glimpses, and actions involving Krampus, once again, not exactly paying off successfully. Now that all the negatives are pointed out.. are there positives? Sure! The movie adds some form of relief with its tactic of forming each of the anthology stories together, of which, at the end of the film leads to a twist that was slightly mediocre. But manages to actually pay off. We also get interesting little Christmas morals here, and there to follow through with, minor little elements. Finally, as said before the twists featured in the film. Once again. It wasn't the best. But enough to hold the attention of the audience.

This is your standard low budget horror movie about ghost hunters who finally find the real thing. There's a formula for that kind of movie and this movie follows that formula. I like that. If you are a horror buff who likes ghosts then this movie will deliver the emotional roller coaster ride that you expect. For me that makes it a success. I enjoyed this movie and recommend it.

Also, all the protagonists are decent likable people. I really like that in a horror movie, and IMO it's one of the reasons why Asian horror is often so much better than US films. I want to like and care about the characters on the screen. In this movie that is easy to do. That fact alone makes this movie better than similar fare like Grave Encounters.

The film started off promising, giving hints that this could be a surprisingly good low budget film. Unfortunately I was surprised but not in a good way. The film built up as any good horror film would however at the first opportunity to capture the audience the acting failed miserably. I have seen several high school projects and the the students in those projects gave far better performances than this crew. The acting was below terrible. The character shallow with no depth in any way. At no point did I want any of the characters NOT to die. The lines, camera angles, unrealistic reactions (or complete lack of reactions) and absence of a basic plot made me register on IMDb so that I could warn others about this film.