Time of Her Life

The film is bad on virtually every level-even student films run circles around this for quality. The dialogue and acting is dire. The exposition dumps are hilarious. Virtually all the actors seem to be just reciting lines into space, there is no sense that they are talking to each other or have any sense of timing. The lighting fluctuates wildly. The tone flicks all over the place and the lead actress can't decide whether to be chummy with the ghosts or terrified- so she goes back and forth throughout the film. She also receives and forgets information consistently- maybe the script changed throughout filming. If I had to hear the fake asthmatic gasp of the lead one more time, I might have had an asthma attack myself. It's completely inaccurate as to English inheritance law and just generally doesn't make much sense. Part of the reason my review is so harsh is that I am very leery of all the 10 star reviews- an adoring mother wouldn't be able to give this 'baby' more than a 6 and an honest review is truly a 1.

The quality of the film is way beyond its budget with good acting and beautifully filmed across historic landmarks in England. The storyline keeps your attention and the music provides the right atmosphere throughout the film. The film starts off as a suspense thriller and turns into a period romance so it should appeal to a large cross section of people. The movie switches across two hundred years between the present and the past, with some clever effects when the two times are interacting with each other. Due to the nature of the film with its strong storyline and the way it was shot, it will look good both on the big screen and on DVD.

I usually love ghost stories, but this was dire.

To begin with, in parts of this film I got the impression that someone on the crew had watched 'Moondial' one too many times and decided to make an adult version. So frankly, not even particularly original.

Then there's the lead actress. I've seen better in school plays - wooden, unattractive and looked continually puzzled throughout the entire film.

It has the feel of something shot by a group of friends with a hand-held video camera - so amateurish it's ridiculous. Is this a student film project? If so, I don't know what it's doing listed here.

If you're thinking of watching it - seriously, don't waste your time.

I've just had a chance to see this film, and having read the comments below, feel the need to add my say. First I must say that I have spoken to Greenway about working in their next film, 'The Book', so bear in mind that I think the film is more than good enough to warrant putting my time and effort into the opportunity of working with Steven Smith. I would not discount all of the negative points in the previous two postings (although I'm glad that one had the sense to point out the dazzling performance of the Gardener), however it is clear to me that Steven is going to go far in his career. I did enjoy watching the film, and found that as the story progressed I, like the characters, became drawn into the story of Hylands House.

Frankly I'm rather incensed that on the basis of the dazzling reviews attributed to Steven Smith I wasted nearly two hours on his debut offering. Have they all been written by his pals? The action clunks along, the music is irritating and over used, the script is simply dire and the actors (with the exception of the gardener) mediocre at best. I do think we should support the efforts of a young filmmaker but saying it's brilliant when it's not will surely only encourage him to make the same mistakes again i.e. continuing to write his own scripts and using the same actors for another venture. Yes, it's his first film, low budget etc. - I get it, but it's also out there for members of the public to purchase and it's just not up to scratch.