Sara Campbell (Virginia Madsen) and her husband, Peter Campbell (Martin Donovan) decide to move to Connecticut when the long journey for the treatment of cancer to her son, Matt Campbell (Kyle Gallner) is taking a huge toll on his body. The 5 children and her move into a cheap rental home, but it is quite huge. The father stays back at his job and only comes to Connecticut at weekends. The house has a history behind it. It was actually a mortuary in the 1920's, where Ramsey Aickman was famous for his seances which were attended by Harvard professors and all kinds of big shots. He had an assistant Jonah, who was a kid, and he was a medium who could amplify the nature of these seances. During one of their seances, all the sitters around the seance were killed, except Jonah who was never found again. But now Jonah is haunting Matt and things start to get weirder as the days go by.
This film is 'based on a true story'. How many times have we seen a horror movie which proclaims itself to be based on true events? Most of the times its just a cheap trick to make more money. So, I had decided long back never to watch a horror movie by thinking that it was actually a true event. This film is clichéd and sort predictable upto a point. Do we have a kid who can see ghosts? Check. Do we have parents who think he is hallucinating? Check. Some cute adorable children? Check. A haunting history to the place? Check. A guy of faith to help them in their time of need? Check. A friend who will believe Matt? Check. Cats or other animals possessed? No. Surprising, isn't it? Possessed animals are quite a hit among horror movie directors. Anyway, the thing which makes the movie a believable true story is the ending in which Sara says her son is fine and has no cancer now. That would be a kind of proof that this was a true story.
Even with all of the clichés, this is a very well made movie which is worth a watch. The real high point of the movie is Kyle Gallner who gives a haunting performance as Matt, the cancer kid who can see the dead. We can see the subtle change in him when he is kind of possessed by the ghost, in the scene where he makes his little brother sleep on a metal table used for autopsies in the funeral room and spins the boy round and round and the look on Matt's face was extremely creepy. He is truly an amazing actor and looks frightening throughout the movie. Virginia Madsen needs no special mention, we all know that she was an Oscar nominee and a good actress. She pulls in the necessary requirement of the character. Elias Koteas as Reverend Popescu didn't do enough justice to the role. That's just my opinion. The father character played by Martin Donovan did a good job, except in the drunk scene, where it really didn't add anything to the story. The graphics are quite cool and it is very stylistically shot which makes it quite a good horror movie. The editing is slick and the ghost scenes look really cool. There are no false jump scares and the background score is well done.
7/10
This film is 'based on a true story'. How many times have we seen a horror movie which proclaims itself to be based on true events? Most of the times its just a cheap trick to make more money. So, I had decided long back never to watch a horror movie by thinking that it was actually a true event. This film is clichéd and sort predictable upto a point. Do we have a kid who can see ghosts? Check. Do we have parents who think he is hallucinating? Check. Some cute adorable children? Check. A haunting history to the place? Check. A guy of faith to help them in their time of need? Check. A friend who will believe Matt? Check. Cats or other animals possessed? No. Surprising, isn't it? Possessed animals are quite a hit among horror movie directors. Anyway, the thing which makes the movie a believable true story is the ending in which Sara says her son is fine and has no cancer now. That would be a kind of proof that this was a true story.
Even with all of the clichés, this is a very well made movie which is worth a watch. The real high point of the movie is Kyle Gallner who gives a haunting performance as Matt, the cancer kid who can see the dead. We can see the subtle change in him when he is kind of possessed by the ghost, in the scene where he makes his little brother sleep on a metal table used for autopsies in the funeral room and spins the boy round and round and the look on Matt's face was extremely creepy. He is truly an amazing actor and looks frightening throughout the movie. Virginia Madsen needs no special mention, we all know that she was an Oscar nominee and a good actress. She pulls in the necessary requirement of the character. Elias Koteas as Reverend Popescu didn't do enough justice to the role. That's just my opinion. The father character played by Martin Donovan did a good job, except in the drunk scene, where it really didn't add anything to the story. The graphics are quite cool and it is very stylistically shot which makes it quite a good horror movie. The editing is slick and the ghost scenes look really cool. There are no false jump scares and the background score is well done.
7/10