Haunt

Sounds, visions, strange goings-on; dead people, supernatural entity, ghost telephone: yep, this is a haunted house movie. It has a few recognizable names and faces in the cast, the protagonist is a teen boy, and the climax and ending are the most notable bits. What else do you want to know?

Forgive me for being blase about 'Haunt.' It's the first feature film of director Mac Carter or writer Andrew Barrer, and their contributions are fine. It's well made from a technical standpoint, including editing, effects, sound design. I think the cast perform admirably, including those I'm familiar with (Ione Skye, Danielle C. Ryan, Jacki Weaver) and those less well known to me (Harrison Gilbertson, Liana Liberato, and others). I really do like the writing; the characters feel slightly smarter and more level-headed than most genre cliches, and the narrative and scene writing is reasonably engaging. A job well done, yes?

It just seems like this picture isn't especially remarkable in any way. It's suitably well done, but nothing leaps out as particularly grabbing, unique, or essential. We get some specific jump scares, some general creepiness and atmosphere, and that's a wrap. I mean no disrespect to anyone involved; I did enjoy this - only, unless you're a fan of someone in the cast, there's no major reason to seek this out over comparable titles. Why, it comes and goes so unobtrusively that I was astonished to look at the digital timer and realize the feature was already two-thirds over, as it felt like nothing had really happened yet.

Do I have any abject criticism to level? Well, I think the framing of the narration is excessive; it's arguably necessary, given the way the story is told here, but surely a bit of a rewrite to excise it would have only benefited the film. I also think like the resolution of the climax is a bit of a cheap shot, ruthlessly punishing an innocent in a way that felt extraneous; the result is a title that's less satisfying than it could have been. A tiny bit more time spent developing the plot would have helped to tilt the odds in the movie's favor, in my opinion.

Oh well. You could do better, you could do worse. 'Haunt' is good enough; the question rather comes down to simply how much you love haunted house movies.

If you are looking for a spooky movie then "Haunt" is not really the best of choices. It has a mediocre storyline and some fairly cheap scare tricks going on.

A family has moved into a new house where mysterious things are going one. And when the teenagers have a séance they get in touch with something inside the house.

It is a mediocre storyline that initially did seem okay, but it just lacked proper scary atmosphere and spooky moments. And whenever they did attempt to scare the audience by showing a haunt or apparition, they usually made use of a lousy out of focus effect with the camera. I guess that it is an easy way to glance past perhaps a lack of great effects or make-up?

The acting in "Haunt" was okay, although the cast were extremely limited by the script and the storyline.

"Haunt" did have potential to be a good horror movie, but director Mac Carter couldn't bring the ship safely into harbor, so to speak.

All in all, an average movie experience, but a weak horror experience. As such, "Haunt" fails to haunt the audience and scores a mere five out of ten stars from me.

Very similar in look and feel to "The Conjuring" (2013) and "Insidious" (2010) but with central characters that are teenagers rather than adults. The similarities make it feel a bit formulaic, but it's a good formula. Scary and frightening like a haunted house movie (the movie's self-aware opening narration describes itself as a ghost story) ought to be, its intensity is too much for PG-13 but lacks the explicit violence and gore typical for R. Three jump moments were quite effective, which again indicates a PG-13 level of scariness, but the overall creepiness of the unfolding mystery is even more compelling. Rather than coming apart in the third act, the movie features a complete ending that wraps up and justifies the story. Kudos to the prop maker who created the vacuum tube-era radio box, one of the creepiest "characters" in the story. This movie is well-made, scary, and a welcome addition to the modern horror genre.

This movie just goes from "interesting" to "uh.. that was it?", REALLY fast.

It starts with typical "family moves into a haunted house" bit but it feels like movie tries to copy clichés only and is happy not following through different sub-plots. For example, you might think that a young girl talking to a herself alone in her room & scratching family member's eyes from a photo will lead to something really messed up later on.. but then you'd be wrong since movie doesn't do anything with that setting, doesn't progress it at all.

It's like the director had a list of horror cliché's to add and that was it.

Also, this movie throws in so many jump "scares" that you will soon start predicting the next jump. It's ridiculous, not scary at all.

The only positive thing out of it is that the atmosphere during horror sequences was actually well done. The acting wasn't exactly bad as well.

I read about Haunt today in Fangoria Magazine and it really sounded like a cut above many of the genre films. Well, I looked it up, got my hands on a copy of it and sat down to see if it would give me some chills and thrills. No such luck.

For a ghost story that's complete with a haunted house, box that allows the living to communicate with the dead, and a pretty decent looking spirit, this is a complete snoozer. If I thought the first half was tedious and dull, the second half didn't really improve on that much.

A family moves into a house that has a history of several other family members dying there. How did they die? Why did they die? Why are the hauntings starting up again? Those questions are lost as viewers ask questions like do the parents actually have jobs or are they independently wealthy? The parents don't mind when a girl who shows up and starts bunking with their teenage son?

Truly, it's agony pointing out the plot holes because there are a huge number of them. There's a tiny bit of tension here and there, some of which is ruined by those lovely jarring scare noises when something happens on screen. It's just a sign of director who doesn't trust what he's putting in front of us to do the trick.

Simply put, don't waste your time. Haunt is a snoozer.