The Jonestown Haunting

I could see this as a film school final project, because it has everything that a film requires, but none of it works at the right time. The acting was a bit wooden, although the actor who portrayed Rev. Jim Jones was fairly good. There are no supernatural elements present, save for the inward journey that Sarah takes to make peace with herself and sense out of a horrible tragedy. The roadside preacher could be seen as a literary Virgil, guiding the viewer through the mindset that the People's Temple hope to encompass, but ultimately strayed from. The story was original, in a sense, but at the end, they jumped the shark.

This was definitely...a movie. Unfortunately, one you might remember for a while.

The Jonestown Haunting is about a survivor's repressed memories and dark thoughts of having survived the Jonestown massacre. And yet, it does sound like it could be interesting, except it not writers Andrew Jones and Sharron Jones managed to turn 1 hour and 25 minutes into absolutely nothing. Trust me, this movie was so pointless and boring that you could watch the first 15 minutes, then leave and come back for the last 15 minutes, and you would still be up to speed with events in the movie. Like yes we know Jonestown became internationally infamous when, on November 18, 1978, a total of 909 people died at the settlement, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and at a Temple-run building in Georgetown, Guyana's capital city. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations but besides that there no ghosts until the end of the movie the ghosts sure be the main bad guys. It sure be called HAUNTING for a reason Like why are all the ghosts good and fine with the main character going back to the place they died So dumb of the ghosts if was too die and become a ghost I would not want people to go back to the place I died like no thanks this is my place of rest so goodbye they need to make a remake of this movie And make it better than this garbage.

The Wikipedia Article for The Jonestown Massacre is actually far creepier than this movie is. Do yourself a favor and read that instead of watching this. I did give it a few points for some of the historical accuracy that they tried to convey, but it's mostly a waste of time.

On the Eighteenth of November 1978 over nine hundred died in Jonestown, Guyana. A remote settlement created by cult leader Jim Jones and his followers. Some committed suicide, others were murdered. This film is centred on fictional survivor Sarah Logan. Ten years after the massacre she is still haunted by the events and is seeing a psychiatrist. When she decides to visit the site, hoping to confront her fears, he advises against it but she goes anyway. Intertwined with this we see flashbacks to events before the massacre including Sarah joining the group and later becoming concerned about how it is being run.

If you are looking for a scary film one might think the events at Jonestown would provide good subject matter... unfortunately this never manages to be scary. The flashback scenes showing events leading up to the massacre are interesting although our protagonist isn't there for the infamous mass-poisoning; she gets away during a shooting. Things start well enough but go off the rails later as it gives voice to conspiracy theories about the events. The acting isn't great but is good enough for a low budget film. At no point does it feel like we are in Guyana; the flora and fauna look and sound distinctly British... not surprising given that it was filmed in Wales. Overall I'd not recommend this to those looking for a horror film; it isn't too boring but I'd rather have watched a more factual reconstruction of the events than this fictionalised version.