The Beacon

After reading the reviews I really wasn't expecting anything from this movie but I had absolutely nothing else to watch. Actually I'm glad I did watch it as there are some nice ol' skool spooky moments in the movie, I would say it's worth a watch on a cold dark night.

Definitely a straight to video movie done on the cheap, the actors were a mixed bag of low level TV actors and failed movie stars. Teri Polo was actually quite good in the lead and was a charming presence. Most of the others were acceptable and a few were just plain awful. The female cop and the landlord stand out as terrible for me but I couldn't decide if it was the actors or the direction at fault.

It gets of to a clichéd start with all the usual creepy happenings. There is some nice photography in a few scenes but it's obvious the production didn't have a large budget. The last 20 minutes turn into some 70s schlock horror B movie with some film school quality make-up effects. Definitely gets to the so bad it's good stage.

The plot didn't make a lot of sense at the end but if you make it that far you won't really care.

The film really did have a good creepy feel to it. It can leave the viewer feeling somewhat scared and it does get better near the end. The movie is also very suspenseful and leaves you waiting till the very end to see what the heck is going on. All the acting was pretty good, especially from Teri Polo who had the main role. Most of the story seemed to fit but certain things were placed in the film that really didn't need to be there. One scene had to do with Marnette Patterson's character near the end. Also there was about two or so minutes at the end of the movie that didn't need to be there. They couldn't of stopped at one point, but they had to take it just a little farther and to me it seemed like it almost ruined it. The film was decent but I did want more out of the scare factor.

While trying to get their lives back on track after the loss of their four year old son, Bryn and Paul Shaw move to the charming old Beacon Apartments...

So, you have this film known as "The Beacon" that comes out in 2009. The DVD does not get released until 2011, and then they retitle it "Haunting at the Beacon" (which I actually think is a weaker name). And before the DVD even gets out, they are playing it on Netflix, more or less undermining any reason to be excited about the DVD (if you were).

What would draw someone to this film? I was a bit happy to see Michael Ironside, a horror staple for thirty years, play a small role here. And you might care that this film was made in an allegedly haunted hotel in Texas. That personally meant nothing to me, but fans of "Ghost Hunters" might think otherwise... or maybe you are a fan of Teri Polo from "Meet the Parents"?

The film is a bit of a snoozer, at least for the first half. We have a mom who sees a ghost child and those around her think she is crazy, just having symptoms of guilt from when she let her own child die. The plot is nothing special, it does not come off as very original, and some of the character motivations seem odd (such as the pill-popping cop who follows up on a case for no reason -- and what are her pills?)

The second half is both redeeming and destructive. The pace increases, there is a cool scene with scissors as a set piece (also the best gore of the film). And after a twist or two (which I cannot reveal) the story finally becomes interesting. The problem? We find out after the twist about many, many plot holes. I would love to go through about five of them here, but cannot without revealing the film's secret. Let me just say this movie works best if you do not think about it.

If you like the movie enough to own it, I will tell you that it features an audio commentary, but not much else. That might clear up certainly plot problems, though I doubt it (I must confess I own the disc but have not given it a second viewing yet). My advice is to avoid it or to simply watch on Netflix...

This movie was sort of mediocre, but leaning towards being good actually. The story of the movie was quite alright and kind of captivating and interesting. There was a constant and good flow to the story, so you never felt bored or found the movie to be uninteresting.

As for it being a ghost movie? Well, yeah, it is, but not in the traditional sense of a ghost movie. This is sort of one step beyond that, as the ghosts assume corporeal forms, which in itself is kind of interesting to see in a ghost horror movie.

The cast in "The Beacon" was alright, and each brought their characters fairly well to life on the screen. The dialogue could have been better in certain places throughout the movie, but not together all bad though.

The sets, scenery and make-ups were nice and worked well for the movie. However, the ending, well that was a bit too much. Sort of made me laugh actually, because it was so cliché, so typical Hollywood.

Throughout the course of the movie, you are taken for some thrill rides and exposed to some really nice twists to the story as well.

In summary, "The Beacon" is not an overly scary movie, it is more of an interesting ghost movie. Watch it if you like supernatural movies, just don't expect to get scared out of your seat.

My friend arrives at my house holding THE BEACON and THE COLLECTOR in his hands and just tells me I should check them out, I knew THE COLLECTOR from the trailer I saw a while back but as for THE BEACON, I was completely blank, I had never heard of this film and yet my friend insist I should check it out.

So I started watching this film and the first thing I noticed was this wasn't a big Hollywood film, it reveals itself as a low budget movie with no attempts to hide it, it had a slow but progressive pace, the acting wasn't bad and has a few rather creepy moments but the real surprise is the ending.

The film turned out to be good after all, I'll admit I was surprised when I discovered this was a DTV film that my friend brought me but I can say it was worth the 90 minutes, although one thing to take into account is this film won't please everyone, as I found with many low budget films like this if the production value isn't up to a certain standard then certain people won't like, to me the production value is decent, I recommend people not necessarily set there standards low but I think keep'em in neutral and discover the film for yourself like I did.

Overall, it was pretty impressive and I think it could use a bit more attention.