Apparitional

The film started off promising, giving hints that this could be a surprisingly good low budget film. Unfortunately I was surprised but not in a good way. The film built up as any good horror film would however at the first opportunity to capture the audience the acting failed miserably. I have seen several high school projects and the the students in those projects gave far better performances than this crew. The acting was below terrible. The character shallow with no depth in any way. At no point did I want any of the characters NOT to die. The lines, camera angles, unrealistic reactions (or complete lack of reactions) and absence of a basic plot made me register on IMDb so that I could warn others about this film.

I liked this film. Nothing to hate nothing to love just an easy B rated horror flick.

A group of paranormal investigators need to deliver the goods to boost the ratings of their struggling TV show, so agree to film an episode in an old abandoned prison. Although long since abandoned, turns out the place might not be so empty as first thought of! 'Haunting of Cellblock 11' is a decent little low-budget horror/thriller with solid dialog and believable characters, and, despite a fairly slow start, a couple of effective scares pop up here and there. It's also a competently shot multi-camera affair, so despite the premise, there's very little in the way of single shaky camera 'found-footage' elements.

But one thing that instantly stands out are some better than average acting performances, and ultimate praise must go to the on screen husband and wife Jeffrey Johnson and Linara Washington. The pair share a convincing chemistry and very supportive, believable partnership throughout the film, and the few scenes where the sadly discuss their inability to have children is very touching, you literally want these two to make it through the ordeal. It's probably their relationship and the skill of the two actors that keeps you watching right through to the end.

Unfortunately some of the scares rely on pretty unconvincing CGI enhancements that are more ambitious than successful, and the film would have probably been more effective without them at all. Another problem is that something bad happens to one of the lead characters about half way through, and when he suddenly reappears later on, when asked what happened he essentially answers 'Oh man, I have no idea...', and it's never brought up again!

But 'Haunting of Cellblock 11' is still worth a watch. It tells a decent tale, has some reliable scares and all-around solid acting. I'm assuming there might also be a chance of some of the characters returning for another film?

7/10.

Low budget horror that follows the crew of a TV ghost-hunting show as they investigate a haunted prison. Not 'found-footage', thankfully. No 'name actors', other than Dee Wallace, who gets an early scene as a foul-mouthed, ball-busting network exec. The location (the real life, closed Missouri State Penitentiary) is terrific, the cast are far better than normal for this sort of thing, and whilst the story is pretty generic, they do go for a 'twist'. Unfortunately, the CGI looks cheap, the music jars sometimes, and - despite the great setting - there isn't much tension. 5/10.

First, this movie is definitely worth watching. It is a lower-budget ghost-hunter movie that really exceeds expectations. It is really well acted with only a few scenes as the exception. It has a proper dose of humor throughout as well. At first I thought the lead guy was going to be like a poor man's Josh Gates, but soon realized I was wrong and his acting was spot-on. The other characters were enjoyable to watch also, and did a fine job. Don't get me wrong, there are some scenes that highlight the modest budget they must have been on, but on the whole it was a fun film to watch. The scares were there in the 2nd half mostly but the whole thing was done as well as could be expected. I took note that it was a good script if not always delivered the best way. It surprised me how much I enjoyed it. So if you're looking for horror and have seen most of what's out there, don't miss this one. One of the better portrayals of ghost hunting, the way it's done nowadays, that I've seen.