The St. Francisville Experiment

I have liked films by Ted Nicolaou in the past, but this will not rank as one of them.

I give this this movie one star - strictly on the fact that they told the real New Orleans story of Madame LaLaurie.

Watching the Blair Witch rip-off "The St. Francisville Experiment (2000)" and this movie is just so bad it's laughable. One guy walks around saying "I love the ghosts" to stay positive, a girl is a total basket case the entire time, at one point she exclaims, "Omg a dead bird! and the other girl asks, "How dead is it?" All the actors are terrible, and the screenplay is atrocious. I think the only good thing I can say about this movie is, nope I got nothing.

Every thing the characters did in The St Francisville Experiment contradicted everything else they did or said at each moment... they are introduced as serious investigator friends, but it becomes clear in the first scene in the house they don't know each other at all and are complete amateurs, then one says to share all their feelings, so the one girl says a prayer by herself for herself which suddenly everyone is okay with, then they say as long as we stick together we should be able to handle this, so what do they do? They split up to go cleanse the house, all the rooms simultaneously... This movie was like that contradiction poem we heard as little kids, the one that goes... admission is free pay at the door, grab a chair and sit on the floor... this was the absolute contradiction haunting movie.

The climax itself had such potential, but just left me feeling upset.

Spoilers Ahead ---------------------------------------------- So many clichés and contradictions in this film, from the totally healthy cat that jumps out of an Armoire, a falling chandelier, non-cohesive emotions from scene to scene, saying lets stick together because that's how we'll be successful here, then splitting up, saying lets share all of our emotions so one girl prays by herself? The ending has one room shaking, an arm reaches for one girl, that was dull, another gets dragged, they find the guy who was in the attic, chained in the basement hidden medical room, and Ryan tied to a table? The only ghost you see is a bit of mist that quickly dissipates....

Episodes of Ghost Adventures are scarier than this movie.

I cannot recommend this movie to anyone.

1/10

I watched this movie last night, it was horrible. They took what could have been a scary situation, and made it stupid. The women were much more annoying than the guys, because they were all stereotypes of people. Madison kept talking about the "white light" that surrounded them, but no one ever asked what she was talking about, they just let her go with it. And after a few "purifications" that obviously didn't work they decide on the classic cliche of splitting up, and trying them seperated from each other?!?!?. The scares were all jumpy scares "oh no something jumped out in front of me", nothing with actual fright value. There are also scenes where doors open for people....and they go in them! And spaces open in the floor, or they find a hole and they STICK THEIR HANDS IN THEM WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO SEE!! Yeah right... Also the fact that people lived in the house, and yet these people didn't get rid of the "bloody medical equipment" in the basement, or seal up a hole in the wall, make it seem more staged. And finally they are standing in the house for five minutes before they try turning on a light, when I, a normal person, go into a house that's the first thing I do.

Ted Nicolaou made a lot of great horror and fantasy films. I am looking for all his films to see. I could not find this one for 3 year, until I unexpectedly found it in youtube. To tell the truth I wanted to see more ghosts and less talks here. It looks like in 1999-2001 Ted had a crisis , maybe in money. His features of this time look more like real low budget thrash z garbage movies. But I do not claim him to be a bad director this time . Everything happens. The ending has some nice creepy details and suspense but the whole film was long dull dialogues .

only for real Ted's fans.

www.myspace.com/neizvestnostlab

Never in my movie watching experience have I ever seen a picture so horrible. This poor excuse for a horror film is deplorable. The over-acting by each of the cast members would cause Bella Lugosi to roll in his grave! The effects are all cheap and staged as well as the dialog. This film should be taken off the shelves and burned at the stake. To anyone who went to the theaters or rented this (yours truly included) we should demand Hollywood use this film as a standard to never, never let a movie be this bad.

A "Blair Witch" ripoff involving four people who go ghost hunting in a supposedly haunted Louisiana mansion. Unlike the gem it's ripping off, there is nothing frightening here unless you consider bad acting to be scary. This is truly a film where nothing happens. The only refuge from pure boredom is the occasional unintentional hilarity that pops up. For instance, we get some priceless dialogue like this choice exchange:

"There's a dead bird." "How badly dead is it?"

This thing is also notable for having what is probably the stupidest cat jump scare I've ever seen. I can't forget the bit towards the end where the group splits up, and the guy going into the attic keeps complaining about how scary it looks in there. The others then spend what feels like at least ten minutes trying to convince him to go in. How exciting!