The Beacon

The photographer Bryn (Teri Polo) and the astronomer Paul Shaw (David Rees Snell) moves to a small, but cozy one bedroom apartment in the Beacon Apartments in Texas to rebuild their lives. Three years ago, in Halloween, Bryn neglected attention to their son Danny that disappeared, apparently drown in a lake nearby a carnival. Bryn tried to commit suicide and Paul sacrificed his career to support her. In the relocation, the couple is helped by Bryn's sister Christina Wade (Marnette Patterson) that befriends the next door neighbor Will "Ty" Tyler (Nick Sowell). Paul finds a job in the local university and shares his office with the eccentric anthropologist Simon Valencia (Jonny Cruz). Along the days, Bryn has visions and nightmares with a ghostly boy and she decides to investigate how he died and seeks out his father James Nash (Kevin Scott Keating). Meanwhile Paul helps the decadent actress Vanessa Carver (Elaine Hendrix) but does not tell details to his wife. When Bryn discovers that James is also dead, she realizes that she had contacted ghosts in the building and tells Professor Simon, trying to find how to communicate with her diseased son. However, after his research, Simon finds the truth about the Beacon Apartments.

"The Beacon" is a well-constructed horror movie with a great story that recalled me the scary "The Sentinel" (1977). The excellent Teri Polo shines in the dramatic role of a grieving suicidal mother with guilty complex. This is the type of feature based on good direction, screenplay and performances, and the make-up and special effects are effective and used only when necessary. The plot point is totally unexpected, the story is very well resolved and the melancholic music score is wonderful. In the end, the refreshing "The Beacon" was a great surprise that startles and one of the best horror movies that I have seen this year. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Visões" ("Visions")

After moving into a new apartment building following the disappearance of her son, a woman and her husband find the area's grisly history of suicides is sparking an increase in ghost sightings and that something may be after her.

This one here was a pretty forgettable entry but still has some good stuff about it. One of the main problems is that it's rather predictable from the outset, as nothing really sticks out here as being all that original or unique and it tends to wander down the same exact roads done hundreds of times in these kinds of films, where the woman maybe telling the truth or not and those around her are totally unsupportive. It becomes far more enjoyable during the last half-hour, when a twist comes along that really spices things up and makes the film far more enjoyable, as there's some good hauntings, nice make-up work and more that are highly enjoyable. However, all the Lifetime-style drama not only causes it to be too little too late, it also makes it stick out like a sore-thumb as being inconsistent with the rest of the film as it comes barreling out of nowhere with a ham-fisted introduction to turn it into a horror film. It's still pretty good, but it is flawed.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language

After reading the reviews I really wasn't expecting anything from this movie but I had absolutely nothing else to watch. Actually I'm glad I did watch it as there are some nice ol' skool spooky moments in the movie, I would say it's worth a watch on a cold dark night.

Definitely a straight to video movie done on the cheap, the actors were a mixed bag of low level TV actors and failed movie stars. Teri Polo was actually quite good in the lead and was a charming presence. Most of the others were acceptable and a few were just plain awful. The female cop and the landlord stand out as terrible for me but I couldn't decide if it was the actors or the direction at fault.

It gets of to a clichéd start with all the usual creepy happenings. There is some nice photography in a few scenes but it's obvious the production didn't have a large budget. The last 20 minutes turn into some 70s schlock horror B movie with some film school quality make-up effects. Definitely gets to the so bad it's good stage.

The plot didn't make a lot of sense at the end but if you make it that far you won't really care.

While trying to get their lives back on track after the loss of their four year old son, Bryn and Paul Shaw move to the charming old Beacon Apartments...

So, you have this film known as "The Beacon" that comes out in 2009. The DVD does not get released until 2011, and then they retitle it "Haunting at the Beacon" (which I actually think is a weaker name). And before the DVD even gets out, they are playing it on Netflix, more or less undermining any reason to be excited about the DVD (if you were).

What would draw someone to this film? I was a bit happy to see Michael Ironside, a horror staple for thirty years, play a small role here. And you might care that this film was made in an allegedly haunted hotel in Texas. That personally meant nothing to me, but fans of "Ghost Hunters" might think otherwise... or maybe you are a fan of Teri Polo from "Meet the Parents"?

The film is a bit of a snoozer, at least for the first half. We have a mom who sees a ghost child and those around her think she is crazy, just having symptoms of guilt from when she let her own child die. The plot is nothing special, it does not come off as very original, and some of the character motivations seem odd (such as the pill-popping cop who follows up on a case for no reason -- and what are her pills?)

The second half is both redeeming and destructive. The pace increases, there is a cool scene with scissors as a set piece (also the best gore of the film). And after a twist or two (which I cannot reveal) the story finally becomes interesting. The problem? We find out after the twist about many, many plot holes. I would love to go through about five of them here, but cannot without revealing the film's secret. Let me just say this movie works best if you do not think about it.

If you like the movie enough to own it, I will tell you that it features an audio commentary, but not much else. That might clear up certainly plot problems, though I doubt it (I must confess I own the disc but have not given it a second viewing yet). My advice is to avoid it or to simply watch on Netflix...

(2009) The Haunting At the Beacon/ The Beacon HORROR

I saw this movie as "The Haunting At the Beacon" and not as "The Beacon" written and directed by Michael Stokes starring Teri Polo as Bryn, living with her husband Paul (David Rees Snell) as they're going through a tragic loss of their biological son, and happen to move into a hotel that is haunted. Straight-to-rental, and although it has it's moments, it's all been done before except that this version has a mediocre acting, plot holes and a premised that's been done a hundred times. And the budget restraints prevent this movie to be believable.