La Légende de Lucy Keyes

I caught this film last night and was very pleasantly surprised. Other reviewers have covered the basic plot, so I won't bother here. I have to say that I was most impressed by the little girl who played contemporary Lucy. That tot can act! She was cute without being cutesy, and solid without being wooden or robotic, as some child actors can be.

It was fun to see Jamie Donnelly on screen again. Although she has changed quite a lot from her Grease days, the voice and the eyes are still the same. Living in a small (pop. 3000) town myself, I found myself chuckling about the rather clichéd "town eccentric" character Donnelly played and thinking to myself, "Why OF COURSE there's a town eccentric!" But her character was central to the plot and she turned out to be more than I expected.

I recommend this film for those who want a spooky yarn without all the slash-and-gore contemporary film makers seem to think all ghostly tales must have. It does have some bloody moments, but compared to most of "Let's dismember people" films being made today, they're not too bad.

The basic story has significant promise It is based upon the actual disappearance of a young Massachusetts girl in 1755. There is plenty to work with: a local ghostly legend, a family curse, family secrets, greed, an ancient property dispute brought into modern times.

A story of modern greed, outsiders drawn into an insular town, a grieving mother unsuspecting their family has bought cursed ground. Add in ghosts and the hint of possession and you seem to have all the elements for a great horror film.

Yet, something is lacking. This film never lives up to its premise. It is a decent film, but never gets scary enough to be horror, and the end bursts on you so quickly the history-repeating angle gets thrown in right at the end. Enjoyable, but disappointing in that it fails to live up to its possibilities.

This is a smart, thoughtful thriller that really digs into the bond between a mother and daughter. Not a horror film in the traditional sense of the genre, Lucy Keyes frieghten"s by making the possibility of the supernatural afterlife real. Julie Delpy is sublime in her portrayal of Jeanne Cooley, a mother who is caught between sympathy and terror for a spirit with whom she can relate with her heart and soul. Shot elegantly and efficiently, this Indy make the most of it's modest budget and really delivers on both visceral and emotional level, showing the real value of smaller films which are made outside the studio system.

All in all, a film to go see.

I saw this film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival a few weeks ago, and I'm sorry to report that it's just awful. Prior to the screening, the director explained to the audience that it was "based on a local legend in his own backyard", and because he seemed like a nice guy I really wanted to enjoy it. Sadly, there was basically nothing to enjoy :( The film is just plain dull, that's its main problem. Ages go by with literally nothing important happening, and the film is EXTREMELY repetitive. There are endless scenes of the characters tossing and turning while having bad dreams, and the movie completely fails to create an atmosphere of dread. Combine that with horrendous acting from the two children and a totally absurd, contrived ending, and you have a movie that would be better off going straight to video. This is the kind of film that would garner less than a 15% rating on Rotton Tomatoes, and anyone saying positive things about it prior to release is probably a studio plant.

"The Legend of Lucy Keyes" isn't entertaining, and it's just not scary either. At least not unless your idea of scary is two actors running around aimlessly in the woods for 15 minutes yelling "Lucy?" "Lucy??" "Lucy!?" a hundred million billion times.

P.S. WTF are clam bellies?

The Legend of Lucy Keyes: I was really stupid thinking this one could rock stars. The movie is not bad, but sincerely it does not expand into nothing original nor outstanding.

A city family moves into a rural zone where it lies a secret and a supernatural tale: An haunting folk story where a ghost of a woman wanders thru the woods at night trying to find her lost daughter 250 years ago.

The acting is decent and the story is somewhat cool but the running of the film goes towards mediocrity and uncreativeness due to a lack of positive sets to make the audience captive and thrilled in the seat.

If you're trying to watch a real horror movie don't go this way and avoid the party-hunting that sets off to find little Lucy Keyes...