The Haunted Airman

What an awful movie!! I could barely manage to watch it for the hour it lasted — any longer and it would've been off.

Low-budget I can handle. Weak supporting performances, poor special effects, bad editing… OK, fine. But there is no way to get past a film that is painstakingly slow, boring, and completely lacking a plot (or even an explanation)! Nothing happened! I watched the whole thing and still couldn't really say what it was about. Basically it's a guy who's scared of the shadows. Is he crazy? Why is he in a mental hospital? Is he imagining the spiders and the moving shadows? Who knows — or, more importantly, who cares? Sorry, but a slightly moving shadow on the floor in the middle of the night means nothing, especially when the curtains are open; it's probably just a branch moving outside the window.

Robert Pattinson is attractive as ever and turns in a pretty good performance, but there was no way he could salvage this piece of crap.

My response in a nutshell: yeah, it was only an hour lost…but I can think of so many better and more interesting things I could have done in that hour. Like, the dishes.

In the World War II, the airman Toby Jugg (Robert Pattinson) is hit in the spine during an airborne attack and he becomes paraplegic. His aunt- in-law Julia Jugg (Rachael Stirling) is his only relative and sends him to rest in a clinic in the countryside. Toby is in love with Julia and writes several letters to her but she does not respond. Toby is haunted by shadows and bugs and Dr. Hal Burns (Julian Sands), who is responsible for his treatment, complains that Toby does not open his feelings to him.

One day, one intern goes to the town and brings a letter from Julia to Toby, and he finds that Dr. Burns is hiding his correspondence. When Julia is informed, she comes to the clinic to stay with Toby that seems to be mentally ill. One night, Dr. Burns gives a razor to Toby and tells him to do the right thing, trying to induce him to commit suicide. But late night Toby discovers the secret of Julia and Hal.

"The Haunted Airman" is a tale of paranoia, with a confused story, melancholic but beautiful cinematography with blue filter and great performance of Robert Pattinson. I was expecting a horror movie and not a drama, but anyway the director and screenplay writer Chris Durlacher completely fails since he never develops the character of Julian Sands. Does he fall in love with Julia reading the correspondence between Toby and she? Is he trying to dope and kill Toby since Julia is still loyal to him and he wants to get rid off Toby to be with Julia? The pace is also very slow, but helps to make the creepy climate of the story. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): Not Available.

A disabled and traumatised WW2 airman is sent to a convalescent home in Wales, where his mental health gradually degenerates as a result of disturbing hallucinations, and growing suspicions that the doctor in charge may not be as benevolent as he at first seems.

Though billed as being based on The Dennis Wheatley story 'The Haunting of Toby Jugg', the relationship is a highly tenuous one. Unlike the book, this is a psychological drama with no hint of the supernatural, and while the technical quality of the filming is very good, it is very, very slow-paced and, at the end, downright confusing. I can only guess that the film's makers were trying to emulate the ambiguous nature of 'The Turn of the Screw', but this is not in the same class at all.

If you liked the book, I can't recommend it. As a psychological chiller it certainly has some unsettling moments, but on the whole it is far too slow and uninvolving.

First, let me say that I had not seen Twilight when I originally rented this back in 2009 (and the only reason I am writing this now is because this atrocity was on chiller last night). I got it out of Redbox and watched it with my brother for an annual movie night.

Second, I'm a huge movie watcher. There's rarely a movie I don't like because I can find something to like about it.

This is not one of those movies. In fact, can this even be considered a movie?? It's like someone in Britain said, "Hey, this guy is somewhat good looking so we need to make a movie with him in it that's based on a great book. While we're at it, let's throw the scrabble letters against the wall every time we want some dialogue in this 'movie' and that will be what the actors say." If this was the case...mission accomplished.

I honestly can't even begin to describe how horrible this movie is. To name the bad things that 1) happened in the movie, 2) how the movie was made, and 3) what the movie is about would be a massive list that I neither have the time nor the patience to write. If you want to know what's the worst part about it - cast wise to the direction, editing, script, etc.- I would answer you, "All of it. Literally." I actually asked my brother if he would turn if off because not only was I bored to near sleep, but I was incredibly confused at the ending. I kept waiting for a real one to come up.

Whoever thought this movie was a great idea not only needs to be banned for life from everything media but needs to be told not to base a concept of a movie from his drug - induced, scrabble letter throwing haze.

I purchased this dvd being a huge fan of Dennis Wheatley and especially his book the Haunting of Toby Jugg. How they can even claim that it was based on this book is beyond belief. Other than a few of the names of the characters being taken from the book it is totally different.

Take away the claim and look at the film without knowing the book and it becomes a pretty average horror movie. Robert Patterson was just okay, a little on the dull side although playing the part of a crippled airman I suppose there was not too much more that he could do. It would of helped if they would of made the film a little longer to include the correct ending to the story. Once I had seen that it was only just over one hour I had the feeling that I would be disappointed. I'm sure that Wheatley fans feel the same way.