"The Legend of Lucy Keyes" is a slow and boring, though potentially interesting ghost drama.
**SPOILERS**
Wanting to get out of the city, Jeanne Cooley, (Julie Delpy) and her family, husband Guy, (Justin Theroux) and their two daughters Lucy, (Cassidy Hinkle) and Molly, (Kathleen Regan) decide to move to a house out in the country. Meeting up with Samantha Porter, (Brooke Adams) his boss and the reason for the move to build a new series of windmills for the town, they get the town up in arms over the development. While staying in the house, she begins to become tormented by strange noises and visions, and even finds a hidden map of the town, which she later finds is connected with a child's strange disappearance in her house. Noticing that they're lives are paralleling that of the disappeared children, the local legend about a lost child makes her fear for her children's safety, especially when it looks close to coming true.
The Good News: There wasn't a whole lot in here that was all that good. One of the few things is that the woods do look really creepy and spooky. Using the leaf-less ones with long twigs approach adds immensely to the style, giving it a really nice feel and an air of menace. Since just about every time it's featured is due to a night-time search inside and a little bit of daytime viewing makes them a little creepier than they should. When it finally gets around to it's ghost-story roots, it's surprisingly watchable. The main ghost's appearance is pretty creepy, a transparent image of a disfigured head with bloody wounds around the face. The fleeting times it's visible it has a great look and a distinctive feel, and as it's not over-killed with repetitiveness, it hold up better than it should. The one main attack is really good, injecting some action into the film and comes the closest to scoring some scares. It's best touch, though, is the conveyance of pain and anguish over the loss of a child. Not done all that much, but it's effectively done here and is used at the right times to get the most out of it. Otherwise, this is a really disappointing ghost film.
The Bad News: This was a really weak and disappointing film. Despite the great premise and oodles of potential possible, the result is rather unremarkable. The first flaw is that the majority of the time is spent with subplots that are unrelated to the main intent and have nothing to offer except boredom. The concern of the citizens over the windmills, which is clichéd in and of itself, takes up a lot of time and doesn't get resolved, other than a nod that they barely approve of the idea happening in the first place. The struggle to get the family to accept the idea of the move lasts longer than it should, and is again really wrongly handled. The biggest strike, though, comes where the biggest scares should be, which is the mystery surrounding the town. This is relegated to the back-story of it's own film, as it takes a near eternity for us to even get to scenes that relate to this subplot. The first hour is concerned with the different troubles associated with the reason why the family moved, namely from the townspeople, and very rarely is there anything that comes up with the ghosts. This means that it's a largely slow and painful experience for the first half, and things pick up slightly towards the end, but the only thing in the film that generates any sort of excitement is a nice attack on the family and the final chase into the woods. Beyond this, though, there isn't all that much and it instead feels more like a drama with horror elements than anything. The last major problem with the film is the premise itself. While nice and capable of being entertaining, it doesn't really hold up as much as it should. The very idea of a ghost roaming endlessly in search of someone who is dead strikes as absurd, since death would be the one event capable of reuniting all concerned. This hasn't occurred to anyone, and makes the film have even less credibility than it already does. All in all, this was a suitably boring, though potentially good ghost story.
The Final Verdict: While the story and the potential are there, the rest of the film really falters from almost every angle. It can be quite entertaining if in the right mood, but this has been done elsewhere much, much better so only ghost-film enthusiasts or for those that love these kind of horror-dramas.
Rated R: Violence, some Language and children in danger
**SPOILERS**
Wanting to get out of the city, Jeanne Cooley, (Julie Delpy) and her family, husband Guy, (Justin Theroux) and their two daughters Lucy, (Cassidy Hinkle) and Molly, (Kathleen Regan) decide to move to a house out in the country. Meeting up with Samantha Porter, (Brooke Adams) his boss and the reason for the move to build a new series of windmills for the town, they get the town up in arms over the development. While staying in the house, she begins to become tormented by strange noises and visions, and even finds a hidden map of the town, which she later finds is connected with a child's strange disappearance in her house. Noticing that they're lives are paralleling that of the disappeared children, the local legend about a lost child makes her fear for her children's safety, especially when it looks close to coming true.
The Good News: There wasn't a whole lot in here that was all that good. One of the few things is that the woods do look really creepy and spooky. Using the leaf-less ones with long twigs approach adds immensely to the style, giving it a really nice feel and an air of menace. Since just about every time it's featured is due to a night-time search inside and a little bit of daytime viewing makes them a little creepier than they should. When it finally gets around to it's ghost-story roots, it's surprisingly watchable. The main ghost's appearance is pretty creepy, a transparent image of a disfigured head with bloody wounds around the face. The fleeting times it's visible it has a great look and a distinctive feel, and as it's not over-killed with repetitiveness, it hold up better than it should. The one main attack is really good, injecting some action into the film and comes the closest to scoring some scares. It's best touch, though, is the conveyance of pain and anguish over the loss of a child. Not done all that much, but it's effectively done here and is used at the right times to get the most out of it. Otherwise, this is a really disappointing ghost film.
The Bad News: This was a really weak and disappointing film. Despite the great premise and oodles of potential possible, the result is rather unremarkable. The first flaw is that the majority of the time is spent with subplots that are unrelated to the main intent and have nothing to offer except boredom. The concern of the citizens over the windmills, which is clichéd in and of itself, takes up a lot of time and doesn't get resolved, other than a nod that they barely approve of the idea happening in the first place. The struggle to get the family to accept the idea of the move lasts longer than it should, and is again really wrongly handled. The biggest strike, though, comes where the biggest scares should be, which is the mystery surrounding the town. This is relegated to the back-story of it's own film, as it takes a near eternity for us to even get to scenes that relate to this subplot. The first hour is concerned with the different troubles associated with the reason why the family moved, namely from the townspeople, and very rarely is there anything that comes up with the ghosts. This means that it's a largely slow and painful experience for the first half, and things pick up slightly towards the end, but the only thing in the film that generates any sort of excitement is a nice attack on the family and the final chase into the woods. Beyond this, though, there isn't all that much and it instead feels more like a drama with horror elements than anything. The last major problem with the film is the premise itself. While nice and capable of being entertaining, it doesn't really hold up as much as it should. The very idea of a ghost roaming endlessly in search of someone who is dead strikes as absurd, since death would be the one event capable of reuniting all concerned. This hasn't occurred to anyone, and makes the film have even less credibility than it already does. All in all, this was a suitably boring, though potentially good ghost story.
The Final Verdict: While the story and the potential are there, the rest of the film really falters from almost every angle. It can be quite entertaining if in the right mood, but this has been done elsewhere much, much better so only ghost-film enthusiasts or for those that love these kind of horror-dramas.
Rated R: Violence, some Language and children in danger