Spirit Trap

Sweet-natured Jenny can hardly believe her luck when her new student accommodation turns out to be a sprawling,fully furnished mansion.Her housemates include a coke-snorting drug dealer,his girlfriend and a mysterious beauty.But Jenny starts to question her good fortune when a dusty grandfather clock suddenly whirs into action,summoning the ghosts of the house's former occupants and preventing its new ones from escaping to the outside world.Surprisingly dull teen horror flick that offers zero scares and very limited amount of gore.The acting is nothing to write about and the plot is predictable.5 out of 10 and I am being generous.

Nice to see more and more British fantasy films appearing and this one is not so bad. Certainly as good as most American B-Movies of similar ilk and most definitely better than many reviews on this site suggest. Story is perhaps a touch clichéd and generic but, hell, isn't that part and parcel of genre. Haunted House stories do tend to contain haunted houses, and they tend to be haunted by spirits, and these movies appeal to teens and younger adults so they tend to feature teens and younger adults as main characters. It's also a no-brainer to realise that these characters need to make some mistakes in order to activate the BAD THINGS that happen, hence that is what happens. Call it generic or call it derivative, so what? That's the genre. Admitedly, tension isn't built up so well, not much in the way of scares and only a light smattering of atmosphere, but it looks okay and the acting is undoubtedly better than most of the posters on this site are suggesting. Could I possibly ask that reviewers from places other than a film's country of origin don't immediately dismiss UK actors as unknowns just because they are not Keira Knightly, Daniel Craig or Hugh Grant? Billie Piper was certainly less known prior to Doctor Who but it's been a good decade since she was unknown. Sam Troughton and some of the others have also built up a reasonable body of work. Piper is decent in this - some suggest not as good as in Doctor Who - I would point out that most people should shine in Doctor Who because it's so well directed, written, constructed, etc. Piper doesn't shine in this because 'Spirit Trap' just isn't in the same league but it doesn't mean she isn't good. Also liked Troughton. Is this film a waste of time? No! It ain't a classic but it's not so bad. Give it a go, it won't kill you.

Having been given free tickets to see this film, I decided to go and see it.

Granted, it wasn't the worst film I've ever seen however I felt that the plot was weak. The setting of a creepy old house was fantastic and having that mysterious locked door really did seem to feed on the audience's fear. The dream sequences were nicely done, as were the flashback scenes. Superb performances from Emma Catherwood.

Billie Piper was far better in Doctor Who and although there is nothing directly bad about her acting there is also nothing particularly great either. I'm no prude by all means but I thought this film would be more suited to an 18 certificate...

I would say this film is worth seeing once but not twice.

Okay, this movie wasn't THAT BAD. I've seen horror movies that were way worse. (The Black Dahlia Haunting, for instance. I have no idea how it managed a higher rating than this movie. If you ever have to choose between the two, choose this one.) There were a few "Wtf is going on?" moments, but nothing too bad. However, I personally wouldn't pay to watch it. It's just something entertaining to watch if you have nothing better to do. The reason I watched it was because it has Billie Piper in it. The acting was pretty good, which I was not expecting, due to the low rating here on IMDb. If you're a fan of Billie, you may as well watch it.

Yet another craptastic movie I got to see for free at my SU bar here at university. Boy, am I glad it was free.

Firstly, this film is really, really confusing. I'm not saying I didn't understand what was going on, rather that I didn't understand peoples reactions and/or WHY things were happening. For example, in one scene which I shall dub the "confession" scene, two characters reveal flaws they have. This makes them randy, apparently, and they begin a relationship right there. Now, I don't know about anyone reading this, but I wouldn't really be in the mood if I had just confessed something about myself to my potential partner, and had them do the same back, but hey, I'm not stuck in the house that quality movie-making forgot.

Another problem with the film is, I have to say, the performances. The only actors in this I recognised were Sam Troughton (mainly because I know his connection to Patrick) and Billie Piper. They were the best actors in this by a long shot, but then, scarlet fever is better than cancer, so lets not be too hasty in giving out the applause.

On a brighter note, the clock in the hallway looked cool.