A Haunting at the Rectory

First of all, this is nowhere near a 'horror', it's not even a reasonable ghost story. Neither is it a reasonable thriller or suspense movie, nor a drama worth any weight at all.

Just because a film is low budget doesn't mean the fundamentals of film making should be abandoned.

If a film is being presented as a certain time period make sure it looks the part. In other words, camouflage modern fitments for starters, even if it means using a bit of painted cardboard!! Modern light switches slap bank in the middle of the frame.

Next is don't shoot your own equipment! In several scenes attention to framing is non-existent. For example a massive light rig in the garden during a night scene.

Shaky shake works SOMETIMES. Hand-held effects can bring drama to a scene when used appropriately. In this movie it is used far too much when the emphasis should be on the characters and becomes annoying and distracting (someone MUST have watched this before finalising the shoot).

Learn to direct. So many many times in this movie the actors appeared to be left hanging wondering what to do next. Long pauses that made actors look like they had lost the plot became another annoyance.

As with directing - learn to edit! Many of the annoyances because of the lack of direction could have been addressed in editing. Conversations between characters were often slow and laboured - totally artificial.

Make sure your story reflects what you claim. The marketing for this film is as a horror. As in my opening comment, it isn't - nowhere near.

Having said that, if the technical problems with the film had been addressed and the actors given direction and the opportunity to rehearse more this could have been an interesting movie to watch.

The production team had the equipment, but the lack of attention to detail has yet again let down what could have been a decent film.

But actually for the wrong reasons. This is quite subpar and I think it knows so itself. But since we have different tastes and all, some might find something appealing in this, that others do not even see. Even the acting that I would not consider ... good myself or the script this is based on ... you might find them freeing and interesting.

And that is the good thing when we talk about movies: we have something to talk about. In this case talking about a movie with a few characters is not really something that will change anyones mind about how they feel about it. It could have been a movie shot during the pandemic. Considering that it only contains a few people. The horror does not work as well as the makers thought it would. The tension between the characters will finally have a conclusion - but while it may think it is clever ... well you'll be the judge (jury and executioner - no pun intended)

Okay so going into A Haunting at the Rectory otherwise known as American Poltergeist 5 - The Borely Haunting I expected a low budget ghost flick and for it to be absolutely terrible but I was sorely mistaken.

I mean okay it's pretty terrible so I wasn't wrong about that but this simply isn't a ghost flick and quite frankly the supernatural element is needlessly tacked on and shouldn't even exist.

Therefore this shouldn't be considered a horror at all, more of a drama as that is essentially what A Haunting at the Rectory is.

It tells the story of a Reverend and his wife who take on a new handyman. But the handyman is not what he seems, and the wife begins to see ghostly apparitions.

Again the supernatural element is minimal and simply shouldn't have been added. I assume it was simply to raise interest in the film deeming it only likely to succeed in the horror market.

Instead of a horror we have a reasonably paced but not very interesting British drama that ends on a passable twist but you'll likely be bored long before it arrives there.

Want a horror? Avoid. Want a dull drama, this is one for you.

The Good:

Cast are above par

Twist is passable

The Bad:

Just not very interesting

Very deceptive marketing

Was drawn into seeing 'A Haunting at the Rectory', with a cool poster/cover, an attention-grabbing tagline, a somewhat intriguing if very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for the genre it fits under. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there (though there are decent to good ones as well), made me though apprehensive.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws present in those films are here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'A Haunting at the Rectory' is really quite abominable, with so many huge flaws and doesn't do anything with any potential it had. There is nothing good here in 'A Haunting at the Rectory', just amateur hour all round.

Going on to the negatives, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it comes over as vague and under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less unsettled and never gaining momentum. All the characters are too sketchy and with cardboard thin and colourless personalities and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.

The sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions), the effects are shoddy and all of the acting is lacking severely on the whole, that's actually an understatement as the worst of it is horrendous. Didn't get any chemistry from the leads and Lee Bane shows neither enthusiasm or subtlety. There is no sense of horror or engagement with the awful predicament they're in, and no connecting with the character, it just reeks of indifference which makes the viewer not care less too.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace and film drags on forever, apparent from the very start, never recovering that interest is lost fast. The ending has no build-up and just ends ridiculously. Found too many of the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments (if there was any explanation for what the deadly secret promised by the tagline was it was missed by me, as has been said already) and the lack of tension and suspense. Thrills are none, thanks to stodginess and excessive over-familiarity, and found myself never invested in the drama, which tended to be indifferently acted, interminably paced and statically directed.

A lot of 'A Haunting at the Rectory' has really dull and going nowhere plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you shocked are far from creative or unsettling. The paranormal elements were very misplaced and unnecessary, when there they were there, which is far too infrequently, very randomly organised and overdone that it was bordering on comical.

Nothing freaky or interesting, no development and too derivative, while everything is unimaginative and are more odd than scary, completely failing to show any sense of dread. There is nothing interesting or illuminating with what the film was trying to do and the drama is overwrought with no momentum and a lot of weirdness. The direction is barely there and disorganised and the music is ill-fitting. 'A Haunting at the Rectory' is very amateurish visually, too drearily lit and shows no care in the way it's shot. Calling the editing sloppy is insulting to the word sloppy, just no cohesion or flow at all.

Altogether, irredeemably terrible. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Watched this and was extremely disappointed. It's not actually a horror film, a more accurate description would be a drama without any drama. Nothing actually happens, characters just mope around rooms and moan about their lives. The acting is abysmal and could not even be classed as amateur dramatics standard.The actor that plays Frank Peerless is ironically named as I've never seen someone act so badly. I've no idea where he got the idea to talk in a mock cockney/toff accent- but its laughable. The vicar is about as wooden as they come and the whole thing is unbelievable and would be laughable if it wasn't so tedious.

If this is the standard of British filmaking there is no hope.