First, the Recap:
Sometimes, escape from our issues, personal or otherwise, tends to be dealt with via seeking solace as far away from these distresses as possible. However, isolation may not always be the best answer. For a young wife, Dana (Kate Beckinsale), this may be exactly the case when her husband Teddy (Michael Landes) takes her and their son Lucas (Duncan Joiner) to their new, very rural home, hoping to ease pressures Dana faces from alcohol-induced anxiety disorder and work. Once in their new old house, haunting events unfold that Dana begins to explore, only to uncover a dark secret hidden away behind a door on the top floor of the home–a secret from the home’s history that should have stayed locked away.
Worth Seeing: NO
Well, suffice it to say, not only did avoiding any trailers or real details about this film’s premise accomplish nothing to make this horror/thriller scarier somehow, the whole viewing turned the theater I was in into the living embodiment of the effort’s title. With perhaps two particular moments of “jump” frights in it, the rest of this silly excuse for a movie plods along, often boring, with no real pep in its step to speak of. The “scary” or “horror” elements within it ended up being yet more reason to justify bloody violence as “freaky” or “eerie”, when really, it felt totally unnecessary and cliché. Beckinsale couldn’t save it, Gerald McRaney as the primary “ghostly” element couldn’t save it either. Just plain disappointing.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
