La Maison Hantée

A fantastic and atmospheric horror film which relies more on psychological terror than special effects and typical hollywood formulaic scares. It's based on a true story which was investigated by the Warrens and made into a pretty convincing book. Though the movie is obviously "toned down" for tv, the horror grows from an expertly directed series of scenes which portray a strengthening tension and increasing level of stress in the characters who are plagued by terrible circumstances. It's well done. A good friend o mine was actually one of the Warren's students, and I've dealt with them professionally in the past, so I can assure you they're not kooks. For example, they are high on the list of people law enforcement uses to advise on crimes of an extraordinary nature. This is serious business... and trust me, you see this film, you'll rest a bit uneasy that night! Cheers!

I'm a horror movie buff (if you've read my other comments you'll know) and since i watch a lot of these i find it increasing harder to get scared which is why i welcomed this little beauty because it seriously sh*t me up! This is because the movie doesn't just give you a CGI ghost and tell you what it wants and why, instead it plays on the unknown which is the scariest thing. The low budget means the effects are no match to Hollywood blockbusters but just the shadow of black fire appearing in kitchen makes up for this because after all the simple things can have a better impact. Another scary factor is that even after the family have the ghosts exorcised and move house the shadow STILL follows them where-ever they go and considering this was based on a true story it's frightening to think this could happen to you!!! The most of the actors do an OK job playing the terrified family with the exception of the dad, he doesn't look bothered about what's going on even after he's been raped by the demon! This will interest people who love the supernatural but sceptics will obviously say it's crap.

But i think it's a great film and everyone should see it, but not on your own in the dark on Halloween like i did ha! ha!

The Haunted is probably the only tv movie that wasn't terrible. In fact, it's one of my favourite movies, period. The plot is simple (and TRUE). The Smurl family movies into a duplex on chase street, and strange things start happening (a hammer disappears, dripping water, whispering etc.), and the family disregards it as nothing. And it is nothing compared to what happens later on. The main focus of the haunting activity is Janet (played by Sally Kirkland), who is looked at funny after she voices her theory that there may be ghosts in the house. Once they learn (from demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren) that 3 spirits and a demon infest their house, that's when the real terror begins, and at the risk of revealing too much, I'll stop there. I first saw this movie when it came out in 1991, and it scared the hell out of me (I was only 10 at the time), but for years I was waiting for it to come back on tv. when it finally did, I still loved it. This is a movie I wish they'd air on tv more often, and I still can't wait till it comes on again. Don't be expecting a big budget House on Haunted Hill or The Haunting remake with this one though, it moves more along the lines of The Changeling, The Blair Witch Project, and the original The Haunting. By that i mean, you rarely 'see' the visitors, but just mostly the things they do. This is an effective horror method that's hardly used, but believe me, it works. Unless you're into garbage like Urban Legend, you should find The Haunted an excellent movie, with good acting, and great scares.

My boss is actually the niece of the Smurl famiy. Today at work the fact that it's 6/6/06 came up and we were discussing scary movies, and she mentioned that there was a book and movie about a haunted house in her family. She mentioned the name and I looked it up online and brought up the story here: http://www.warrens.net/smurl.htm We sat there and read it and she kept adding things to what that website said, about how she had also experienced weird things in the house as a child when she'd go to visit. She was listing off names before I even read them, and events before I read them- then when we looked at the pictures, she was telling us where rooms were, etc... so for any of you "non believers"- believe it, because it's a true story.

I was born and raised in Wilkes-Barre, PA. I was in high school when this was going on. There was a story in the local papers like everyday. It was so weird. Some believed the Smurls and some, of course, did not. Personally, I believed them for the most part. Why would anyone subject themselves with the kind of ridicule they had to endure? Not to mention my personal experiences with the supernatural (which are stories within themselves). This movie may not be a very good movie (however, I wouldn't say it was bad either), but it was frightening to me, because I was relatively close to the true story. One of my best friends lives in West Pittston, in fact the next street over from where the Smurls once lived. Although I didn't know the Smurls personally, my friend did. She used to be good friends with the oldest daughter and went to high school with her. My friend had told me stories about their house that she remembered from before it became public knowledge. She had been over the house many a time. She claims to have witnessed some strange goings on there, however nothing major. Some strange things even allegedly went on at her house after she was over there. As to how much truth there is to the Smurls' claims, I don't really know. As far as the movie is concerned, it's not great, but not half bad for a TV movie. It was spooky whether or not one was close to the actual events or not. As I've heard many Northeast Pennsylvanians complain about how they mispronounced Wilkes-Barre; that is one thing that makes me squirm probably more than anything else in the film. I realize for people living anywhere else, they would not know..but if your making a film revolving around any city, you'd think the filmmakers would make an effort to get it right. I've heard people from the area pronounce it different ways, but not "Wilkes-Bar"! "Wilkes-BERRY" (most common) or Wilkes-Bear-Ah..even Wilkes-BEAR. It may seem trivial, but it's rather cringeworthy to the natives of the area. And the set they used; they made it look like some 'happy-swell-meadows' neighborhood. It looks nothing like that...it's much more urban. All the houses are close together. I do realize that having room to shoot is a factor in making a movie, but this was way more suburban than it was. There was one night just a few years ago, I drove past the old Smurl house to show some out of area friends. That night after I got home, the lamp in the room I was staying in at my parents house just started flickering out of nowhere. My father checked it out but found nothing wrong with the lamp or the circuit. Qhite bizarre. One thing that sticks in my mind about this movie is the fact that they had the same pattern of sheets that I do!!! Freaky!!!! Overall, this movie was far from a great ghost story flick, but it was spooky, and I may only feel that way, because I was in that area when these things were allegedly happening. That's why I say, "I guess you had to be there".