The Occupants

Prime kicked me out after about 15 minutes as if it could tell how I felt about the movie. The special effects on the ghost were pretty outdated which was consistent with the spirit of the script I'd watched so far. When the babysitter started weighing in on Jesus and ghosts, the movie started feeling like the haunted houses churches create on Halloween. It was at that point Prime was done with the movie and so was I. I won't be finishing it.

What do you tell a young mother who sees ghosts in her house, that she is perhaps under stress, dreaming, confabulating? What happens when her husband sees them too? Lucy works as a counsellor, and while her other half wants them to vacate what is obviously their dream home complete with security fence, she believes the night visitors are not regular apparitions, as in dead people, but a living family that is in desperate need of terrestrial assistance. She confides in a colleague - and former lover - who thinks she is gaga, and refuses to give her any practical help, although he does suggest she seeks help of the psychiatric kind.

After her decision to stay put, things get worse, a lot worse. Was it really such a good idea to bring in a psychic? Unfortunately, this initially promising film soon loses its way. Lucy may indeed have gone gaga by the end, but this is so confusing you don't really know what she has done, what has happened, what is real, what is not, who is the bad guy, and if he is really a demon. Don't waste your time on this one.

It is no secret that I do enjoy the horror genre, and often sit down to watch just about anything that falls within this genre. And when I happened to find "The Occupants", I must admit that I was initially lured in by the movie cover/poster, because it did seem like it could have potential as a slasher movie. Little did I know that this was actually a supernatural ghost movie.

However, I didn't manage to make it more than 35 minutes into this movie before I tossed the towel in the ring. I did so out of what can best be described as utter and complete boredom. From what I managed to sit through, I was nowhere near being entertained or being impressed. And I can honestly say that I have no intention of returning to finish the rest of the movie.

The characters in the movie were one-dimensional and rigid, which didn't really help the movie one bit. And the dialogue wasn't particularly thrilling either.

"The Occupants" had the level of acting which was to be expected from a movie of this sort, for better or worse.

If you enjoy horror movies, then there are far better choices available. I can't really think of a single reason for recommending that you actually take the time or the effort to sit through this ordeal of a movie.

I was really excited by the beginning of this film. It was obviously a low budget effort but it was well directed. The casting was excellent, and most of the performances were as well. I personally find Cristin Milioti captivating, ever since seeing her play Johnny Sac's daughter on The Sopranos.

The story was wonderfully creepy for the first half. Unfortunately as it dragged on it started getting cluttered with half-developed ideas that teased but never really delivered.

It'll be interesting to see what this director does next. He showed enough here to warrant a second chance. Hopefully it'll be better developed.

It's like someone wrote a first draft of a script and then nobody checked it