Haunter

Interesting chiller mystery starts off strong but gradually becomes more and more predictable. Ghost story movies can be a tad repetitive. However, this movie starts out cleverly with a sort of ghost version of Groundhog Day, where Abigail Breslin's family relives the same day over & over, with her the only one who seems to know that they are dead. This plays out for awhile and is pretty intriguing stuff, with decent jumps and spooky moments. Then Stephen McHattie's character enters the story and from there the momentum begins to wane and the mystery becomes a lot less intriguing. If you've seen any of the dozens of ghost stories about a (usually female) ghost trapped because of what some evil man did to them, you will feel a sense of familiarity begin to come over you as you watch. Still, it's got enough interesting things going for it to recommend you check it out. Breslin is a talented young actress and she holds the movie on her shoulders quite well. McHattie is sufficiently creepy in a rather transparent role. Give it a shot if you like supernatural thrillers.

It's sometime in the 80s. Lisa (Abigail Breslin) turns 16 tomorrow. Only she's been repeating the same day over and over again. Neither her parents or her little brother remember. Yet everyday is the same. That is until somethings start changing.

It's Groundhog Day and a horror movie ... sort of. If it's a horror, there isn't anything scary in it. It is head scratching. Lisa reveals the premise very early on, and then it slowly devolves into something even weirder. There has to be a way to get to a scarier situation. But there is no consequences to being caught. Her situation can't actually be any worse. Certainly the normal fear of death do not apply. And that's what this movie needs. It needs stakes for Lisa to fight for. It needs something that she could lose if she fails. There isn't anything like that here. At least, director Vincenzo Natali didn't set up anything like that.

The best description I can give of Haunter that it feels like a very well done episode of The Twilight Zone. Haunter has much more going on but there are some elements that detract from the viewing experience. The mystery that is presented to us is solid. You do wonder what it's going on however for fans of the genre it is pretty obvious from early on. Even then Haunter manages to creep you out to the maximum with minimal means. There are quite a few moments where you feel your heart pumping with excitement. Only at one point when it becomes clear what is going on it begins to drag. And really annoyingly. Here is where The Twilight Zone analogy comes in. The story is creepy and compelling enough for a duration of 50 minutes then every event after is just there to prolong those 50 minutes. Basically this movie would be excellent as an episode of an anthology series as The Twilight Zone but as a full film it can become quite tedious. Still overall I think this film shows how horror does not need blood or gore to manage to scare or freak you out. And I wished more contemporary films would follow this example. Definitely worth the watch, but be aware that after the first hour it can become tasking to remain watching. Although when you do you will get a satisfying ending.

So after many, many months of 4, 5 and tops 6, finally I get a movie that deserves more. I'll tell you folks, I really enjoyed this one. Yes, it may be cheesy at times, a tad bit confusing, could use more frights, but does NOT disappoint.

It starts as a horror, ends the same, delivers with quite an impressive story, good acting, good characters, nice mood and a terrific performance by Stephen McHattie. Of course, some might say it's more supernatural, has some plot holes, should have improved the scares, and so many other aspects that might have used some changes, but I for one loved it. I'll take it as it is and pass it to you guys! It's a great movie to watch it with your girlfriend, or with friends, cracking your head trying to figure what's going one, see who manages to break the ice.

Anyway, words are useless this time, it's up to you to get your hands on Haunter and press play. You won't be disappointed. Cheers!

"We're stuck in this house and we're never gonna leave, because all of us are..." Lisa (Breslin) is a typical teenager. She lives at home and is annoyed by her family. They eat the same thing every day and watch the same thing every night. Unlike most teenagers the days are repetitive because she is dead and is stuck in a constant cycle with no escape. After hearing voices she tries to contact the world of the living which only causes more problems for everyone. I knew nothing about this going in except for that fact that I was intrigued by Abigail Breslin in a horror movie. The movie started off a little slow and cheesy, setting itself up to be a horror version on Groundhog Day but the longer the movie went on it found its stride and became pretty entertaining. There were enough twists and things you didn't see coming to make it interesting the entire time. I wasn't really that scared watching this but I did have a good time watching it and when it ended I was surprised with how much I did end up liking it. Overall, nothing amazing but a different type of horror movie and because of that I liked it and recommend this. I give this a B.