Fairytale

I read most of the reviews regarding this film, and truly expected it to suck enough that I would have to fast-forward. That is how I view most low budget "horror" films. However, I didn't fast-forward the film once. I am a huge horror fan, and though this one didn't give any real scares, it didn't bore me to tears either. The plot of the story was interesting, and I (like many other viewers) didn't see the end coming until right before it happened. I can't say the ending was great, but it was at least interesting. If you have a little time to spare, and have watched pretty much everything else that has come out recently, then give this one a shot.

Don't you just hate it when a film doesn't live up to even a minor 10% of its own great potential? "Fairytale" easily could have been an old-fashioned sinister and atmospheric fable, but due to a variety of reasons (most of them relating to lack of talent) it turned out to be yet another sore disappointment. The film premiered at the annual Brussels Festival of Fantastic Films, and what mainly lured to me to theater was the plot synopsis mentioning the tooth fairy. Personally, I think there's great macabre potential in this theme, but so far this hasn't resulted in any good or even half-decent movies. There's an adequate episode of "Supernatural" devoted to the theme, but the only long-feature horror movie I recall is the mediocre "Darkness Falls". Like that one, "Fairytale" starts off promising but doesn't manage to retain the viewer's attention through lousy character development and inept usage of the splendid set pieces and filming locations. Harriet MacMasters-Green, who's a stunningly beautiful lady but a very implausible concerned single mother, moves into an ancient apartment building with her daughter Helena after her husband left them. The jerk went off to Hawaii for a life of partying and flirting with young gals, in fact. Naturally, the new house comes with an eerie and secretive old wardrobe and a nasty neighbor who claims they shouldn't have come here. After the single worst car crash ever staged on film, which leaves both mother and daughter miraculously unharmed, the house slowly unfolds its mysteries. Helena becomes disturbingly obsessed with the tooth fairy, who actually lived in the building and left her marks inside the wardrobe, but is she really a good spirit … or a restless and tormented soul roaming around? The entire film, or at least the first 75 minutes or so, drags endlessly and everything (acting, direction, coherence …) gradually gets worse. It's almost like a toothache that gets more painful because of infection and lack of care. The denouement brings some improvement, even though the twist ending is still somewhat derivative and predictable. Tales about mythical night creatures and fairies gone ballistic shouldn't be boring. Especially not if they are made in Italy. Whatever happened to this country's awesome horror reputation? And now that we're on the subject, why does everyone speak lousy English instead of plain normal Italian? They read their newspaper articles in Italian, so why don't they speak it?

The first half of the movie, involving the mother and her daughter moving into an old apartment with a spooky past, is good. Creepy and suspenseful. The idea of the tooth fairy, and plot of the story is a good one. The special effects are very good, and the gore is minor, which I actually like. The scene where you finally see the "tooth fairy" is really good, scary and well directed. Then however, the movie takes a turn for the worse. It is slow moving and boring to some degree. The whole storyline within the mental hospital is disconnected to the first half of the story. It loosely ties into the history of the apartment, but kind of goes off the rails from there. It is unpredictable which is refreshing, the ending was not what I expected. The mother is the only person in the movie that you have any real connection with. The daughter is unpleasing, and a bit scary looking to begin with. I think I would recommend this if you like spooky movies that are not run of the mill, and low on gore. Good story, just kind of seemed like to parts that didn't tie in well together.

Sophia's (Harriet MacMasters-Green) daughter does not say this but you get the idea. Wanted to get into it but ended up hoping it would not disappoint me too much with the ending.

On the bright side, it is definitely not Hollywood but on the dark side, it has a hackneyed plot with lose strings and mediocre acting. This is a mother and daughter story. I admired the mother's beauty but felt distanced by her acting. The daughter, bless her heart, is not eye catching or endearing. The story kept me guessing and always swayed away from horror formula stuff but felt a bit like a bunch of horror movies tossed into a blender, resulting in a herky jerky plot, full of distractions and leaving you guessing at lose strings. Still the ending I did not expect since I not at all confident I know how it ended, felt it would have been better if it ended at the last scream.

Maybe the acting was the result of bad directing. In any case, I would not recommend it unless you are in the mood for a thriller/mystery/horror with an artsy Italian flavor that is not hung up on making too much sense.

5 for being unconventional but too chopped up.

Picture this, a blockbuster employee locked in an immobilizing state of flux. Poised between genres, DVD in hand. Then he takes the first tantalizing steps, he is no fool. For he has actually watched "the haunting of Helena" and is not swayed by the devilishly frightening front cover (that which pulled me in I'm afraid) Carefully placing the DVD upon the shelves labeled "comedy" The Blockbuster employee walks away, satisfied at a job well done.

The haunting of Helena is not an awful watch really, that being said it is not at all a horror. It fits into a category better described as "horredy". A horror so poorly conducted that it causes genuine hilarity and thus through a great accident manages to become mildly entertaining.

The protagonist, so memorable her name is in fact one of the only character names I cannot recall, is (for want of a better description) a big wet lettuce. She whines so much it's no wonder her life is in danger all the time, I wanted to kill her too, I would have at least put a measure of effort into making my crimes somewhat scary. The film starts in a promising way, I was impressed by the first scare tactic which took away from the typical "false scare real scare" that is so over used these days. But generally there are a lot of unnecessary over-complications to the plot. I am still unsure as to why the militia were ever involved in anything? Also. Who cut that child's hair? Now that's truly horrendous.