A Face do Mal

I read about Haunt today in Fangoria Magazine and it really sounded like a cut above many of the genre films. Well, I looked it up, got my hands on a copy of it and sat down to see if it would give me some chills and thrills. No such luck.

For a ghost story that's complete with a haunted house, box that allows the living to communicate with the dead, and a pretty decent looking spirit, this is a complete snoozer. If I thought the first half was tedious and dull, the second half didn't really improve on that much.

A family moves into a house that has a history of several other family members dying there. How did they die? Why did they die? Why are the hauntings starting up again? Those questions are lost as viewers ask questions like do the parents actually have jobs or are they independently wealthy? The parents don't mind when a girl who shows up and starts bunking with their teenage son?

Truly, it's agony pointing out the plot holes because there are a huge number of them. There's a tiny bit of tension here and there, some of which is ruined by those lovely jarring scare noises when something happens on screen. It's just a sign of director who doesn't trust what he's putting in front of us to do the trick.

Simply put, don't waste your time. Haunt is a snoozer.

The movie has a very strong beginning. Sound effects throughout are very clear and nicely put (for those scary moments you are waiting for to jump off your seat). But after that strong start, you might find yourself a bit too relaxed and the new characters introduced do not get enough screen time. Other than that, one of the most major flaws is that the story lacks a bit of sense.

It's a shame, it could've been so much better. Not to mention the typical "stupid" behavior, that our characters show, despite knowing better. The mothers (characters) seem to be doing the best job from anyone else. Still there is enough to be entertained, if you allow yourself not to be bothered

An introverted teen (Harrison Gilbertson) connects with his new neighbor (Liana Liberato), and together the couple begins to explore the haunted house that his family has unknowingly just purchased.

There are some things worth liking about this film. The cinematographer is excellent, first of all, and the snow shots look great. Casting Liana Liberato was a wise move, as she has "the look" that could really take her places in the coming years. And the inclusion of the supernatural radio (for lack of a better term) was cool.

What was not appreciated was the writer's apparent influence from "American Horror Story". Maybe this is all coincidental, but the house full of ghosts, the strange neighbor, it all seemed very familiar. And not really in a good way. Other reviews have called the film unoriginal, and they are right. While few horror films are, this one is even more derivative than others.

Perhaps most strange of all was the poor advertising from IFC. The cover art is not terribly persuasive, and they make no mention of Jacki Weaver or Ione Skye. Weaver gets a mention on the back, but these are two names that should be put prominently on the cover. Why would you not play up having a two-time Oscar nominee in your film?

"Haunt" is about the house where the Morello family lived. Dr. Janet Morello (Jacki Weaver) was a pediatrician. When they moved in though, their three teenage kids all suffer terrible unexpected deaths. Later, even her husband Franklin also fell dead. Ordinarily, a house with such a creepy history would have been left for abandonment already.

However, how could there be a horror movie if there was no foolhardy family who was still brave or desperate enough to live in that house despite its sinister past? Enter the Asher family, a couple who happened to also have three teenage kids, exactly like those of the Morellos. It did not take long though that strange things begin to happen to the new tenants.

The focus of this story was the middle boy, 18 year-old Evan (Harrison Gilbertson). One night, he met a pretty but mysterious girl Sam (Liana Liberato) whom he saw crying in the woods outside their house. The two became closer as they try to communicate with the spirits living inside the house with an old microphone set. Of course, their interaction with the ghosts did not stop there.

The presence of two-time Oscar Best Supporting Actress nominee Jacki Weaver gives the cast some credibility. She has this very unusually distinct face whom you can't shake off once you've seen it. The young lead cast, Gilbertson and Liberato, also did very well despite the offbeat love story they were made to portray. The girl Liana Liberato should really get a better break already than small films like this. She has some acting chops as she had already shown years back in the harrowing child molestation drama "Trust". 1980s film fans may also recognize Ione Skye of "River's Edge" and "Say Anything" fame. She plays Mrs. Asher here, though she was not really made to do too much.

I really liked the way this movie started. It boasts of excellent cinematography and imaginative special effects. The sets and the pace of story-telling was tense and creepy. As the story was reaching its climax though, it simply gave up and went nowhere. The back story given for the events were terribly plain, no thrill about it.

Overall, this film was a big disappointment. While the opening sequences promised another excellent haunted house movie, the ending scenes were simply mediocre, an appalling waste of potential and talented cast. 4/10.

Sounds, visions, strange goings-on; dead people, supernatural entity, ghost telephone: yep, this is a haunted house movie. It has a few recognizable names and faces in the cast, the protagonist is a teen boy, and the climax and ending are the most notable bits. What else do you want to know?

Forgive me for being blase about 'Haunt.' It's the first feature film of director Mac Carter or writer Andrew Barrer, and their contributions are fine. It's well made from a technical standpoint, including editing, effects, sound design. I think the cast perform admirably, including those I'm familiar with (Ione Skye, Danielle C. Ryan, Jacki Weaver) and those less well known to me (Harrison Gilbertson, Liana Liberato, and others). I really do like the writing; the characters feel slightly smarter and more level-headed than most genre cliches, and the narrative and scene writing is reasonably engaging. A job well done, yes?

It just seems like this picture isn't especially remarkable in any way. It's suitably well done, but nothing leaps out as particularly grabbing, unique, or essential. We get some specific jump scares, some general creepiness and atmosphere, and that's a wrap. I mean no disrespect to anyone involved; I did enjoy this - only, unless you're a fan of someone in the cast, there's no major reason to seek this out over comparable titles. Why, it comes and goes so unobtrusively that I was astonished to look at the digital timer and realize the feature was already two-thirds over, as it felt like nothing had really happened yet.

Do I have any abject criticism to level? Well, I think the framing of the narration is excessive; it's arguably necessary, given the way the story is told here, but surely a bit of a rewrite to excise it would have only benefited the film. I also think like the resolution of the climax is a bit of a cheap shot, ruthlessly punishing an innocent in a way that felt extraneous; the result is a title that's less satisfying than it could have been. A tiny bit more time spent developing the plot would have helped to tilt the odds in the movie's favor, in my opinion.

Oh well. You could do better, you could do worse. 'Haunt' is good enough; the question rather comes down to simply how much you love haunted house movies.