Half Light

I enjoyed this movie a lot since I love horror/mystery/thriller/ghost stories. However, I would put this in the category of ghost story/love story. I think Demi was Demi - not great, but good. I thought it was interesting that they have her coupled with someone almost 20 years younger than she is, just like her real life. I do question some of the scenery. The village looks authentic Scottish with plaster and stone houses. However, the cottage, looks pure Appalacian mountain cabin - certainly not able to withstand hard weather in that part of the British Isles. Also, the lighthouse looks more USA than Scotland. The rest of the scenery looked genuine. I loved the musical score and the GREAT twist at the end. It really leaves you wondering about some things, and that's why I watched it again the next day. I do recommend this movie! I wish it had been based on a novel so I could clear up some questions I still have.

This film will give chills up and down your spine not because of horror or blood shed, but just the simple location in Wales,UK and a mysterious cottage and naturally, a Light House. Demi Moore,(Rachel Carlson), a successful author of mystery novels wants to have a different location away from everyone and finds this very spiritual place, or you could say a purgatory for the living dead. Rachel encounters Henry Ian Cusick, (Brian),"The Gospel of John",'03 who seems to know a great deal about the Light House and its history and has some fun burying a Mother-0f Pearl sea shell in the sand as a symbol of lasting love. There are many twists and turns in this film and it is very well produced and directed. I must say, I have never seen Demi Moore looking so young and very sexy. Great entertaining film, enjoy.

"Half Light" is one surprise of a movie. The film is about a writer, Rachel Carson (Demi Moore) who tragically loses her young son when he drowns by the dock near their house in England. Devastated from the event, Rachel's friend rents her a secluded island cottage on the Scotland coast so she can relax and recover in the comfortable atmosphere, and conquer her current writer's block. But when she arrives to the little old cottage on the edge of the ocean, weird things start to happen. She has strange visions of her son, she spends time with a man living in a lighthouse who has supposedly been dead for seven years, and the townspeople are also quite strange. Real life terror and supernatural events drive Rachel into hysteria from there, as she tries to unravel a complex mystery.

This was a surprisingly chilling little thriller film, the atmosphere of the whole secluded ocean village was unique and neat, the little village set itself sitting right on the sandy beach. There are a lot of dark gray and foggy tones in the film, which add even more to the atmosphere. I liked the whole feeling the film had, it was isolated and eerie. It's kind of hard to explain, I can't really put my finger on it, but the whole atmosphere was foreboding and spooky. Demi Moore was great, she's a pretty believable actress from what I've seen. Her performance was realistic and fit the film well. The settings are great and really spooky on many occasions, particularly the small cottage and the old lighthouse. The story was rather original, and very subtle with overall good writing. The ending was a bit of a twist-ending, blending real-life horror with a supernatural addition, but it fit well and I wasn't disappointed with it (like some twist-endings leave me).

Overall, "Half Light" is a good little thriller film that caught me off guard, I was expecting something along the lines of cheap straight-to-video garbage. It's quite the contrary though. The Gothic, seaside atmosphere was excellent and well put-to-use in the film, and the creepy little story was well written with a satisfying conclusion. Fans of supernatural thrillers will definitely want to check this one out, it's a good one for sure. 7/10.

Not much to say about Craig Rosenberg since he had not worked much before this movie as a director, or since this movie's release. His minor credits are public knowledge on the IMDb. The film is poorly edited and jumpy at times, there is also problems with the lighting and framing (which I thought might be on purpose, but I cannot see why so many shots are mis-framed). This film came along after Ms. Moore had not worked in several years, and whether that was by choice or not, the first film back probably did not give her many options. She is a fine actress and she does the best with what she had to work with. In fact, I cannot really see where any of the actors did not do their job and try to sell this film. The real problem behind this film is that it is just rehashed plots from different films. The ending is rushed and not thought out, neither is it set up by the end of the second act--which it should be with such a twist--which is a betrayal of the audience. In the end the fault is with the director and screenwriter, and like his screenplay "The Uninvited" this film is uninviting....

Writer Rachel Carlson played by Demi Moore is left unable to write after the tragic death of her son.

In a hope to remove her writers block she moves to a remote island off Scotland. A local psychic startles her with a comment about her son and after befriending a local lighthouse keeper things begin to get creepy. Is she imagining strange things happening because of the isolation and the fact she has recently stopped taking medication for depression, or are they real? There is an unfortunate plot stopper 3/4 of the way in the film where a conversation opens out the plot to a point you may think why continue watching, but there is still a twist in the end.

R17 rating but no profanity or nudity (but did have short above the shoulders tasteful sex scene). I think the rating came from one violent scene in particular involving a child. A little bit of gore toward the end but not too graphic.