The Skeptic

With a very alluring synopsis, I sat down to watch "The Skeptic" with the hopes for a haunting. However, the movie did turn out to be something beyond that. A good or bad thing? Well, I had expected it to be a supernatural story about a haunting, so my expectations were throws a bit off course with what the movie turned out to be.

"The Skeptic" starts out quite well and does build up some interesting characters and situations. And director Tennyson Bardwell did manage to keep the movie going at a good pace and build up some really tense situations. Personally, I didn't enjoy the revelation of what was really going on, although you did guess it about halfway through the movie, so it was not a surprise twist of events. Just a bit disappointing to me.

I don't think I have seen Tim Daly in anything since "Wings", which was a great show back then. So I wasn't sure what to expect here. But I was more than pleasantly surprised, because he really did a good job and carried the movie quite nicely. And he had most of the weight of the movie on his shoulders as he was essentially solo in the movie most of the time. But he held his ground and performed quite well.

What really worked out quite well for this movie was the character gallery. They had some very interesting and well-detailed characters in the storyline. And I was especially fond of Bryan Becket (played by Tim Daly) because of his skeptic approach to everything supernatural and his direct method of handling things. So the characters in the movie were well-rounded and had personalities and depth to them.

Now, there were very little special or practical effects in the movie, which was a disappointment to me. But of course, with what the movie actually turned out to be, it would have made no sense to have had "The Skeptic" to be a movie filled with special effects.

There were some good and tense moments here and there throughout the course of the movie, but I wouldn't really say that this movie was rich on actual scary moments. So the thriller aspect of the movie outweighs the horror aspect, just as a heads up.

"The Skeptic" is hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing, because the storyline just doesn't have enough aspects, levels or depth to support entertainment for more than a single viewing.

I was fairly entertained, but found the turn of events and the root of actual events to be a bit disappointing. And as such, then I am rating "The Skeptic" a mediocre five out of ten stars.

When the forty year old skeptical lawyer Bryan Becket (Timothy Daly) receives a phone call late night, he is informed that his distant aunt had just died and he can only think in the inheritance of her manor. Becket decides to leave his wife Robin Becket (Andrea Roth) and his son to live in the house while selling it and give an opportunity to Robin to rethink their relationship. However his partner Sully (Tom Arnold) advises him that his aunt had a will and the house would belong to the institute of technology managed by Dr. Warren Koven (Bruce Altman) that research sleeping disorders. Bryan visits Dr. Koven and meets his psychic patient Cassie (Zoe Saldanha). Sooner Bryan is haunted by whispers and voices and discovers that the unknown is more frightening than any reality.

"The Skeptic" is a scary ghost story of haunted house that startles the viewer with creepy scenes. The beginning and development of the plot are excellent and Tim Daly performs a skeptical lawyer that feels lost when faces a paranormal activity in his aunt's house and is haunted by a mystery of his forgotten past. Unfortunately the conclusion is awful and spoils the story, giving the disappointing sensation that the budget had ended and the producer needed to finish the film anyway without any care to the characters or situation. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Herança Paranormal" ("Paranormal Inheritage")

I have seen hundreds of horror movies. There isn't much in the genre that shocks me anymore. New releases (whether original or remakes of classics) hit the theaters on a regular basis, all with variations of the standard "Scariest film of the year!" review. In my opinion almost all have be mediocre at best, failing to live up to the hype that preceded them. Sadly, it has been decades since a horror film caused me to jump and scream at various times. I'm thrilled to report that "The Skeptic" was able to do just that, which means I'm recommending it as a must-see for all lovers of "haunted house" films who thought they'd seen it all before.

The title character is a lawyer, Brian Becket (brilliantly played by Tim Daly). Becket is someone you'll love to hate, someone you can't wait to see get "his comeuppance". He is self-assured, sarcastic, arrogant, insensitive, emotionally frigid and (of course) skeptical of everything. He will not give credence to beliefs that can't be backed up with indisputable facts. Upon moving into the home of a recently deceased aunt he begins to experience strange phenomena that he, at first, believes are hallucinations brought on by sleep deprivation and high stress. As the film unfolds, Becket learns shocking truths about his aunt's house and his own past. Through the course of the film he slowly begins to change...and the proverbial shoe moves to the other foot. He is now the one who must successfully explain the unexplainable to skeptics...and he frustratingly cannot win a single argument because there are rational explanations for everything. About half-way through the film you'll stop hating Becket and not only start liking him, but begin empathizing with him and eventually feel sorry for him.

This film has everything you could possibly want in a "haunted house" film: an eerie-looking mansion filled with bizarre antiques, creaky floors and dark corners, a mysterious locked closet, ghostly images that will truly come out of nowhere, etc. What this film does not have is a satisfying ending. To those who enjoy psychoanalyzing films for hidden meanings, the ending will be poignant and acceptable. To others, the ending will be an abrupt disappointment and can be summed up this way: "That's it?!?

THE BOTTOM LINE: On a scale of 1-10, it is a very strong 8. I highly recommend "The Skeptic" to all horror/thriller buffs who are looking for a great "haunted house" story. If you are a fan of blood and gore, this film won't deliver. If you prefer movies with endings that neatly tie off all their loose ends, this film won't deliver either. HOWEVER...if you enjoy films filled with riveting suspense that slowly builds, throwing unexpected shockers at you along the way, then you will really enjoy this film.

A lawyer's aunt dies and he inherits her house, which she believed to be haunted. He decides to stay there while separated from his wife, and why shouldn't he? After all, he's a die-hard skeptic.

This is a very low-key haunted house tale. I'd say it works more as a mystery than outright horror, though it's all fairly straightforward. While the old house is an atmospheric setting, the film is devoid of any chilling moments. Well, I take that back. There is one good scare, but it turns out to be a false one, no threat. The atmosphere of the house is there, it's just that the filmmakers fail to utilize it to any sizable extent. I also felt that the ending was too abrupt. I don't mind abrupt endings, but this one really pushed it.

Tim Daly is okay as the "unemotional" lead. Not really a likable sort, I'd say. Tom Arnold is here too, but his part is basically a nothing role. It's Zoe Saldana who steals the show as a high-strung, yet appealing psychic. She could go on to greater things, and no, I absolutely do not consider Avatar a greater thing.

The Skeptic isn't bad, but it's nothing too memorable. I do admire it for attempting a quiet, more intimate ghost story in this day of obnoxious, in your face haunting flicks.

TIM DALY stars as a skeptical lawyer with no belief in the supernatural who moves into the house of a deceased aunt when his marriage breaks up. He soon believes that he's not alone in the creepy mansion and begins to doubt his sanity after some encounters of a ghostly kind that might just be happening in his head.

Before he knows it, he's getting assistance from a woman psychic (ZOE SALDANA) who tells him the house holds a grim secret. Gradually, we discover that the key to the haunting lies in his past, when he was subjected to harsh treatment at the age of five from a mother whose punishment makes "Mommie Dearest" look like "Snow White." So far, so good.

There are some nice shivery moments but we keep hoping for our hero to see the light and discover just what is going on. It takes a little too long to reach that conclusion and when it does, the ending is an unsatisfying letdown that leaves you jolted just as the end credits begin to unfold. That's it? Yes, an ambiguous and terribly disappointing and empty stone wall conclusion that provides more questions than answers.

Most viewers will feel cheated by the ending, after a fairly good case of goose pimples from a low key, rather tepid ghost story. In the central role of the lawyer, Tim Daly proves almost as adept at drama as he was in comedy roles. TOM ARNOLD, as a sympathetic colleague, has little to do but bark his lines in snappy fashion.