The Jonestown Haunting

Whew! I went into this film with a slight expectation of maybe being entertained or hopefully have a scare or two. Oh boy was I wrong! This film is absolutely terrible... Why? Answer: Very-very bad acting, filming, music, dialogue, story line, music, sound effects, locations and plot. I am actually shaking my head typing this review, wondering what the heck I was thinking watching this dismal excuse of a so called film. Ag no man! This scores a So-So-Very-Very-BAD! -2000 out of 10!

EEEEEK! You have been warned! GAWD!!!

On the Eighteenth of November 1978 over nine hundred died in Jonestown, Guyana. A remote settlement created by cult leader Jim Jones and his followers. Some committed suicide, others were murdered. This film is centred on fictional survivor Sarah Logan. Ten years after the massacre she is still haunted by the events and is seeing a psychiatrist. When she decides to visit the site, hoping to confront her fears, he advises against it but she goes anyway. Intertwined with this we see flashbacks to events before the massacre including Sarah joining the group and later becoming concerned about how it is being run.

If you are looking for a scary film one might think the events at Jonestown would provide good subject matter... unfortunately this never manages to be scary. The flashback scenes showing events leading up to the massacre are interesting although our protagonist isn't there for the infamous mass-poisoning; she gets away during a shooting. Things start well enough but go off the rails later as it gives voice to conspiracy theories about the events. The acting isn't great but is good enough for a low budget film. At no point does it feel like we are in Guyana; the flora and fauna look and sound distinctly British... not surprising given that it was filmed in Wales. Overall I'd not recommend this to those looking for a horror film; it isn't too boring but I'd rather have watched a more factual reconstruction of the events than this fictionalised version.

The Wikipedia Article for The Jonestown Massacre is actually far creepier than this movie is. Do yourself a favor and read that instead of watching this. I did give it a few points for some of the historical accuracy that they tried to convey, but it's mostly a waste of time.

When there are classics on offer like the robert the doll series or even pumpkin jake. I thought this horror movie about jonestown would be pretty decent, but sadly it lacks anything that could make it a good film. To start with it ends abruptly just when it was actually getting interesting and there are no horror elements on offer with this one at all. The movie is all about this girl called sarah that escapes from the cult and goes back ten years later. The guy playing the paster did pretty good and even sarah was nice, who has been in other andrew films. Overall a bit of a underwelming film thats too short. But the cast did their best and they were atleast enjoyable to watch.

This was definitely...a movie. Unfortunately, one you might remember for a while.