The Legend of Lucy Keyes (2006) User Reviews

Intriguing and Forgettable Entertainment

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 22 January 2007]

Guy Cooley (Justin Theroux) moves to an old farm in Princeton with his wife Jeanne Cooley (Julie Delpy) and their two daughters, Molly and Lucy, to build eight windmills to generate clean power to the city. He was hired by the local Samantha Porter (Brooke Adams), who owns with her relative Jonas Dodd (Mark Boone Junior) the lands in the woods where the facility will be built. The Cooley family has a cold reception in town, and while voting for the approval of the project, the old woman Gretchen Caswell (Jamie Donnelly) votes against the construction with many followers and mentions the historic importance of the spot and the name of Martha. Jeanne researches and discloses that two hundred and fifty years ago, a girl called Lucy Keyes got lost in the woods and in spite of the efforts of her mother Martha Keyes and the locals, she was never found. When the ghost of Martha comes to the fields around their property calling for Lucy, Jeanne realizes that the legend is true and that there are many hidden secrets in that location.

Something is missing to make "The Legend of Lucy Keyes" a good movie. The direction is too cold, and the acting is also cold and without any vibration or heart; Justin Theroux and Julie Delpy do not show any chemistry, forming a weird couple. The screenplay is confused, with Jeanne refusing to go to the mass because she misses Anna, but who is Anna and what happened with her? The deranged behavior of Samantha Porter in the end of the story has no explanation. The use of the smell of clam-bellies to keep ghosts away is unique and ridiculous. In the end, I found this B-movie an intriguing and forgettable entertainment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Fantasma de Lucy Keyes" ("The Ghost of Lucy Keyes")

It wasn't bad, but really, what new things this movie brought out?

[jpgonc · 4/10 · 14 April 2006]

The Legend of Lucy Keyes: I was really stupid thinking this one could rock stars. The movie is not bad, but sincerely it does not expand into nothing original nor outstanding.

A city family moves into a rural zone where it lies a secret and a supernatural tale: An haunting folk story where a ghost of a woman wanders thru the woods at night trying to find her lost daughter 250 years ago.

The acting is decent and the story is somewhat cool but the running of the film goes towards mediocrity and uncreativeness due to a lack of positive sets to make the audience captive and thrilled in the seat.

If you're trying to watch a real horror movie don't go this way and avoid the party-hunting that sets off to find little Lucy Keyes...

I found it interesting

[phoenix1955again · 5/10 · 7 October 2006]

Being based on a true disappearance, I think the movie did justice to the mystery from the 1700s. For an independent film, it had a lot less gore than most fright flicks and it is to be commended for that. Expanding the tale to solve the mystery may have been too ambitious a project for the director. However, I find the bittersweet ending to have been well thought out and fairly executed. I think the fear that the Keyes descendant felt should have been explored more in the script, but perhaps explanation for that was left on the editing floor. All in all, I felt it was a decent attempt at solving a centuries-old mystery in a manner that unfortunately, sadly still occurs in this day and age.

Sorry, but this movie was just plain bad..a real snoozer

[brianweissman88 · 2/10 · 1 March 2006]

I saw this film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival a few weeks ago, and I'm sorry to report that it's just awful. Prior to the screening, the director explained to the audience that it was "based on a local legend in his own backyard", and because he seemed like a nice guy I really wanted to enjoy it. Sadly, there was basically nothing to enjoy :( The film is just plain dull, that's its main problem. Ages go by with literally nothing important happening, and the film is EXTREMELY repetitive. There are endless scenes of the characters tossing and turning while having bad dreams, and the movie completely fails to create an atmosphere of dread. Combine that with horrendous acting from the two children and a totally absurd, contrived ending, and you have a movie that would be better off going straight to video. This is the kind of film that would garner less than a 15% rating on Rotton Tomatoes, and anyone saying positive things about it prior to release is probably a studio plant.

"The Legend of Lucy Keyes" isn't entertaining, and it's just not scary either. At least not unless your idea of scary is two actors running around aimlessly in the woods for 15 minutes yelling "Lucy?" "Lucy??" "Lucy!?" a hundred million billion times.

P.S. WTF are clam bellies?

As boring as they come.

[poolandrews · 1/10 · 9 July 2010]

The Legend of Lucy Keyes is set in the small rural New England community of Princeton where married couple Guy (Justin Theroux) & Jeanne Cooley (Julie Delpy) & their two young daughters Lucy (Cassidy Hinkle) & Molly (Kathleen Regan) have just moved into an old 18th Century farmhouse. Guy has been hired by Princeton mayor Samantha Porter (Brooke Adams) to develop a site & build eight alternative energy windmill turbines on it which has split the town down the middle, Porter stands to make over a million dollars if the deal & development goes ahead so pushes Guy. Meanwhile Jeanne digs into the history of the farmhouse & it's land & discovers that two hundred & fifty years ago a young girl named Lucy Keyes went missing & was never found, local legend says that her mother Marha can still be heard calling for Lucy even now...

Co-edited, written & directed by John Stimpson I have to say that this dull as dishwater rural drama with a hint of supernatural ghost story thrown nearly put me to sleep & I am actually quite surprised I made it all the way through to the end. The biggest problem with The Legend of Lucy Keyes is that fact that it's so slow, any slower & it would be going backwards with a script that doesn't even mention Lucy Keyes & her disappearance until after the forty minute mark. I have heard of build-up & scene setting but there's build-up & scene setting & just plain tedium where literally nothing happens for ages & The Legend of Lucy Keyes falls squarely into the tedious category as far as I am concerned. The script can't quite decide whether it wants to be a rural drama with the local opposition to the windmills & a subplot about the Mayor getting rich off the development or a proper supernatural mystery with the disappearance of Lucy Keyes that predictably is finally solved. The murder mystery at the end end starts & finishes within 30 seconds & the whole film is so lethargic & slow. The character's are stock ones with urban city folk moving to a rural area, the local scaremonger who talks of local legends, the odd local who is wary of strangers & the like. The mystery element just doesn't build that well, it's all too predictable & slow & at just over 90 minutes it feels like six hours.

Forget about any proper horror as there isn't any, there's a couple of flashbacks & one shot that might have been a ghost but otherwise the whole film is quite ambiguous as we are never sure what leads Lucy Cooley to find Lucy Keyes body or how the mayor died. The makers just seemed more interested in having Guy & Jeanne talk to people about nothing in particular, a lot. The whole film looks alright but there's no real style here or anything that memorable on show.

Filmed in 2004 but not released anywhere until 2006 one can understand why, actually shot in Princeton in Massachusetts. The acting is alright but nothing special, I take it Brooke Adams needed the money.

The Legend of Lucy Keyes is a film that I hated, it's so slow & predictable with a script that wavers between rural drama & supernatural mystery but doesn't satisfy on either count. For insomniacs only.

Why Was This Film Made?

[Paul_Deane · 1/10 · 31 March 2007]

John Stimpson's, The Legend of Lucy Keyes (2006), is a below average script gone wrong. As I sat in the theater, two things kept crossing my mind: Is this really the same Julie Deply I know from Blue (1993); followed by: has it been 93 minutes yet? Legend is about a middle-class family of city dwellers that have just moved to a New England country-side home in support of a windmill project being constructed by husband and father, Guy Cooley (Justin Theroux). Strange vibes exist from day one when not-so-friendly-neighbor/pig farmer Jonas Dodd (Mark Boone Junior) refuses to say hello to Guy, creating an uneasy tension?, later resulting in many weird unexplained scenes, including a bloody pigs head on a stick during a casual walk through the woods.

Meanwhile, Wife Jeanne Cooley (Julie Delpy) is constantly waking up in the middle of the night, hearing voices disguised as wind coming from the woods. Intertwined with her night terrors are flashbacks of her youngest daughter, who is now deceased, being struck by a car (we learn this information through dropped ice cream cones and screeching tires). The only point to establishing a dead daughter as a character is to reinforce the mothers need to keep her surviving children alive, as if we sympathize with the mom: "Jeanne has already lost one daughter, it would be a shame for her to lose another." No kidding.

It gets worse.

Through a town meeting filled with some of the most awkward dialog ever filmed, the superstitious ramblings of Gretchen Caswell (Jamie Donnelly) who is described as a "funny looking lady with white hair", inform us that "Martha's Land", where the windmills are being built, is haunted by a 250 year old ghost Martha (Rachel Harker), who is still involved in a never ending search for her abducted/murdered daughter Lucy Keyes.

Parallels between Jeanne Cooley and the Martha ghost begin to unfold (...basically their daughters have the same name...) which is shown in a flashback, yes another one, using the combined knowledge of the we-know-you're-in-danger-but-why-would-we-inform-you townspeople. The flashback depicts a 250 years old scene of "alive" Martha ringing a dinner bell to attract Lucy's attention, followed by Jeanne repeating the scene in present time. (Note the exquisite dialogue: "I got you a gift. You've always wanted a dinner bell") The inevitable disappearance of Lucy is delayed for what seems like hours. Finally, the Martha ghost (this is a ghost story, right?) appears and flies through a little crack in Lucy's window, but instead of grabbing Lucy as any childless mother ghost would, just stands still and allows the scary music to play. Eventually, Lucy goes missing and a search party is formed, just like it was 250 years ago and the cycle repeats itself (although no murders of Native Americans take place this time). The difference is, almost by some sort of psychic premonition (which would have made more sense than the way the scene actually played out), Jeanne and Guy find their daughter and finally the madness is over.

If my review seems all over the place, that simply means I succeeded in conveying the story.

But maybe I am being too harsh. There were a couple redeeming qualities of the film, and I must give credit where it is due. First off, I walked out of the theater much more appreciative of what a good movie actually looks like, and maybe the best part of all: it happened to be a free screening.

John Stimpson asked for my thoughts...

[FLMKR4EB · 1/10 · 19 March 2006]

I've never written an IMDb review before, but at the insistence of director John Stimpson I will tell the world my feelings.

This is quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. Stimpson's lack of choices make for a confused genre film that doesn't know if it wants to be a murder mystery, ghost story or horror film. Combining these three fields weigh the film down causing it to stumble over its own shoddy progression.

The acting is undeniably sophomoric even from the veterans that populate the screen. They careen through the film as if making a TV movie of the week. The frequent chuckles I heard from the surrounding audience makes me feel as if I'm not alone in my thinking. There is way to much running through the woods screaming. At one point I was hoping Robert Stack would emerge and ask for any information to the where-abouts of Lucy Keyes.

The direction is stilted and stiff. The use of hand held is meant to loosen up and flow with the characters, but feels instead like a contrived way of convincing the audience that the film is tense. Stimpson's film feels like oh so many movies I've watched by 15 year-olds, self- important and lackluster.

The script is amateur in every way; from the Cray paper thin plot to the use of swear words. Robert Towne spoke of his film the Last Detail's use of vulgarity as a substitute for action. Here, Lucy Keyes uses swearing as a substitute for naturalism. Stimpson believes that if the parents cut loose and let an F-Bomb fly they'll be more human and believable. Instead, each curse reminds me that I'm watching the most pedestrian of film-making.

As something that wants to be a ghost story, horror film and murder mystery the film lacks any scares other than cheap "jump" scares. The lack of atmosphere in the supposed tense portions of the film makes for a laughable movie. It also diffuses the overall tone making the film feel muddled and unfocused. How anyone could find this film scary is beyond my understanding. The Nickelodeon television series Are You Afraid of The Dark is much scarier and has no use for severed pigs heads.

Technically the film is just above competent. The photography is nothing special, I believe this is because Stimpson made no choices in preproduction so as to color correct it later. This leaves the photographic images flat and undynamic. Nighttime is blue, daytime warm. The editing is uninspired. Its mostly an offender of the editor's "band-aid" using dissolves and fades to black in an over abundance. The crude use of these fades to black feels more like an area for a commercial break, unfortunately none came. I could've used even the most terrible of commercials to break my boredom with this film.

What does one do with a film like this? Television? I wouldn't force this on even the most unassuming Lifetime Television watcher. The castration of dignity Lifetime would do to a film like this may be fitting, but even that audience would be pained watching this film. DVD? Maybe, but what's the point? Lucy Keyes should prepare for a long shelf life.

Disappointing, dull and almost unwatchable

[slayrrr666 · 2/10 · 21 April 2007]

"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

Entertaining....

[hartcool · 7/10 · 25 April 2006]

What a blast! I was born and raised in this small town and as a child, Lucy Keyes was the subject of many a Camp Fire horror story that left us certain we heard Martha lurking in the woods surrounding our camp sites.... shivering in our sleeping bags, we frightened campers would be begging for Martha to stop the never-ending calling for "luuuuuucy" ....

I saw the film through a different view. One of nostalgia. I knew the story, am intimate with the setting, and knew many of the "extra's" in the film. So for me it was a hoot! My 17 and 12 year old girlfriends thought it was "awesome" ... with just the right amount of scary spooky thrill to keep them on the edge of their seat. They didn't get the political references to "key parties", "the pig farm" and "windmills" which has become part of the towns lore...but some information is only retrieved by the "insiders".

My friend Jen, thought it was pokey. And I agree...there were some shots that lingered too long, some acting that was difficult to sit through and lost credibility. There are scenes that could use "tightening" up and may have bettered served the film on the editors floor.

As for the ending...interesting theory. Being a writer and performer myself I applaud the writers risk and imagination with the ending.

I am in awe of the time, creativity and courage the Writer/Director has taken with a time warn tale, in a small New England town where judgment and critics run rampant but few get off their duff and put themselves out there for review.

Hey, if we are lucky, this is not the last we will see of John Stimpson, nice guy or not, John Stimpson has a future in Film.

Won't even be a cult favorite

[Western · 1/10 · 17 October 2006]

This film is the rock bottom of awful. If I heard one more character calling "Lucy" I was going to be sick. The plot line is thin as is the script. The actors did the best they could with a terrible script. It was so predictable. Scary? I'll say only one scene in the entire film got my attention for a split second. For shock value they threw in a quick eye blinking scene of dead, mutilated pigs. Same old, same old, a kid so stupid she wanders around in the middle of the night with a flashlight, doors that won't open no matter how long the guy on the outside says open the door. This film just wasted more than an hour of my time.

An enjoyable spooky yarn

[mswritesalot · 8/10 · 18 October 2006]

I caught this film last night and was very pleasantly surprised. Other reviewers have covered the basic plot, so I won't bother here. I have to say that I was most impressed by the little girl who played contemporary Lucy. That tot can act! She was cute without being cutesy, and solid without being wooden or robotic, as some child actors can be.

It was fun to see Jamie Donnelly on screen again. Although she has changed quite a lot from her Grease days, the voice and the eyes are still the same. Living in a small (pop. 3000) town myself, I found myself chuckling about the rather clichéd "town eccentric" character Donnelly played and thinking to myself, "Why OF COURSE there's a town eccentric!" But her character was central to the plot and she turned out to be more than I expected.

I recommend this film for those who want a spooky yarn without all the slash-and-gore contemporary film makers seem to think all ghostly tales must have. It does have some bloody moments, but compared to most of "Let's dismember people" films being made today, they're not too bad.

Not scary, but a fun little ghost story

[will_asher · 6/10 · 16 October 2020]

Yes, it had the feel of a low budget made-for-tv movie, and it wasn't scary. It had a very different feel than most "horror" movies I've seen. This one is really more of a folklore ghost story than a scary horror movie, but that's not a bad thing. Don't expect anything exceptional, but it's a fun watch.

If you want to be shocked and terrified, don't bother watching it. But if you'd be interested in a ghost story from New England folklore, you'll probably like this.

An irritating, overacted film with too many loose ends.

[blythespyrit520 · 2/10 · 18 November 2006]

It is never a good sign when the audience laughs at a film's most dramatic moments - and it happened several times during the screening that I attended of this film.

While the film is based on a genuine local legend, the director's strict adherence "this is exactly how it happened" sometimes detracts from the story, since he seems unable to resist stuffing _Lucy Keyes_ with every possible detail of the legend and the current happenings in the town, regardless of whether or not it contributes to the plot. This leads to a lot of loose ends that are never satisfactorily tied together. Overacting, inconsistent tone and shoddy character development plague this film. There are so many plot points that are introduced as big moments but then never play out to any significance that I left the theater extremely irritated by _Lucy Keyes_.

Slow, dull and a complete loss of time

[Feitosa_Neto_A_R · 1/10 · 12 June 2008]

I have just saw this movie on a cable reprise, home alone, and it seems that I have to talk about the movie. There is nobody home and I ended up writing to IMDb...

For almost one hour nothing seems to happen in the movie. Sometimes it seems that the writers are not sure about the story they are trying to tell. Bad acting from the children, confuse plot, a mess.

The script makes no sense. The secondary plots are uninteresting and unconvincing. And I am sure there I spent too many time listening to people calling out for Lucy, present or past Lucy. Endless. Useless.

The ending is absurd. And I would like to ask to the bad guys in the movie (or the script writer) why in hell they and their ancestors managed to keep a letter of the author confessing the crime AND the original map of the land, for 250 years. Just in case a ghost may need it?

Boring as hell, Avoid it at all costs

[David_Habert · 2/10 · 3 December 2012]

I love movies based on the paranormal, especially haunted house ones. But I have also seen some which don't come even close to either being scary or the effects to create the ghost character(s) is crap. The legend of Lucy Keyes fits in both categories.

If this is supposed to be a true story, than I'll tell you this. This movie isn't doing it any justice at all. Which is a shame.

To make matters worse, the ghosts don't even show up until half way through the film, by that time any person who is watching it will have fallen asleep. (I almost did)

The story is mostly about a family moving from the big city to a country village. Only to find that the house and land which is near the house, is haunted. (like that hasn't been done before) This concept is going past it's sell by date.

As I said in my Summary, Boring as hell, Avoid it at all costs.

There are better haunted house movies out there if you take the time to find and see them.

Distinctly ..Unimpressive

[raven_1-1 · 2/10 · 30 November 2008]

Possible Spoilers ahead………….

I like ghost films; I find them more frightening than horror films as I, like most people, have had supernatural experiences and do not have to suspend disbelief too much as I must with horror films.

Sadly, I was disappointed with this one and had to force myself to watch it until the end (doing the ironing helped!).

The story of Lucy Keyes, as related in the film, is a nice bit of local folklore but it is not even remotely frightening. Consequently, the film is not frightening because…where is the menace coming from? Some people would hear the ghost of the 18th century mother calling Lucy! Lucy! during the night, and the 21st century mother, whilst taking a break from her repetitive tossing & turning, once caught a glimpse of her ghost; but nothing was done with this glimpse nor did it develop the film at all. The ghosts were almost incidental apart from the next door neighbour using smelly devices to keep the ghost away. Finding a hidden mural is an old and effective device, however, the director did nothing with the mural that was found under the wallpaper; it should have revealed a clue or added to the story, rather than merely remaining as background scenery in the room or an occasional talking point.

This film is a catalogue of wasted opportunities to add suspense and a sense of mounting fright. Instead the viewer is treated to almost 90 interminable minutes of the ethics of wind turbines and a boringly unstable mother having the same dream over and over while doing some research on the side and eventually wandering through the woods at night calling Lucy! Lucy! in imitation of the mother of Lucy Keyes! I understand that both mothers had a dead child and the modern mother could empathise with the ghost mother, and that she would be afraid that her own Lucy would also disappear. Unfortunately, she just came across as paranoid with a constant snappy attitude towards her husband.

So, to sum up; nothing interesting happens for 90 minutes and there is not one single scare or suspenseful moment in the entire film!!!!

Incidentally, the crypt appeared to have dry-stone walls; dry-stone walls do not remain intact for 200 years without maintenance, so I think Lucy's remains would have been found at least 150 years earlier!

Outstanding

[candaceb1 · 9 February 2006]

Just went to the screening at the Santa Barbara Film festival. Mr.Stimpson has provided a wonderful thriller that had the entire theater hiding behind their hands in terror!!! Loved the true story addition to a supernatural legend! Bravo!!! It will be worth every penny when it finally comes to the general public. There was also a great Q and A with director Stimpson the audience took part in... Lots of UCSB film school students it seemed. Very appropriate for a Halloween release. I did wish, however, that more was answered about the historical treatment of the movie, much was left to the imagination for something that was "claimed" to have a truthful subtext. Did remind me a little of some recent east coast locale flicks that were psycho-thriller....so saw many things a-comin before they happened. Many cliché's that could have been omitted. Other than that...super cool!!!!!

Another Hit Mess..Don't believe the positive..

[Mehki_Girl · 1/10 · 11 August 2020]

Reviews. Like another reviewer asked, why was this movie made???

I felt sorry for the actors. Running around at night in the woods, trying to act, and probably freezing their butts off, and cursing themselves for needing the money.

The little girl Lucy was cute, but 3/4 in, I wanted the ghost to get her or whatever was going to happen or that she would finally disobey her neglect parents one more time and finally break her little neck in the barn.

But then, I guess, we'd have two crazed moms centuries apart crying for their Lucies.

Hopefully, no more natives would have to die in the process. After all their land was stolen 250 years ago.

This hot mess just threw in the kitchen sink trying to make a scary movie (it wasn't) when they should have thrown in the towel. Mom's accent kept slipping and so did crazy Dod's next door.

Slow Moving

[shmarie · 4/10 · 15 April 2020]

I was tempted at many times to shut off this movie as it was very slow moving and, although I was intrigued at moments throughout due to the sense of foreboding, it didn't allow me to connect with many of the adult characters and- since I tend to watch movies on Amazon Prime late at night- it wasn't enough to hold me in suspense as much as I had hoped (I have been pleasantly surprised before). Towards the end of the movie I did start to feel grateful that I hadn't switched it off. One good selling point is that it is based on a local legend (apparently), so if you are from the area in which said legend did allegedly take place, I would recommend it for you. But this is NOT a masterpiece. That being said, it does beat some of the stinkers you get for free on Amazon prime.

Enjoyed this sad tale of loss and betrayal

[nicci1972 · 7/10 · 22 May 2020]

This was a well done movie. Although, the actions of the antagonist was pretty extreme; it was a suspenseful movie. I would recommend this to friends. Once again, as always, the parents make the dumbest decisions but if movies followed logic, there wouldn't be a tale to tell. Why do parents always continue to let children sleep in their own room or play unsupervised when strange things are happening around you? But the show must go on.

Decent idea

[boundlaw · 5/10 · 5 October 2022]

The basic story has significant promise It is based upon the actual disappearance of a young Massachusetts girl in 1755. There is plenty to work with: a local ghostly legend, a family curse, family secrets, greed, an ancient property dispute brought into modern times.

A story of modern greed, outsiders drawn into an insular town, a grieving mother unsuspecting their family has bought cursed ground. Add in ghosts and the hint of possession and you seem to have all the elements for a great horror film.

Yet, something is lacking. This film never lives up to its premise. It is a decent film, but never gets scary enough to be horror, and the end bursts on you so quickly the history-repeating angle gets thrown in right at the end. Enjoyable, but disappointing in that it fails to live up to its possibilities.

An intriguing, entertaining film!!!

[pbewick · 9/10 · 24 April 2006]

This film is an intriguing story about an old New England legend. Anyone who likes a spine chilling ghost story will love this film. John Stimpson does a great job juxtaposing the family life of a 21st century family with a 250 year old folklore story. Having lived my whole life in New England I could relate to the telling and retelling of old stories and how they become part of the fabric of a small town. The symmetry between Lucy Keyes, who goes missing in 1755, and the modern day Lucy who has moved to the countryside with her family is brilliant. I won't give away the ending, but the symmetry gathers onto itself as the film continues. And the eccentric character of Caswell fits the small town setting superbly. You will enjoy this film!

The Legend of Lucy Keys

[canonfilms · 6/10 · 2 April 2006]

Well without going into detail because this film does not need it an average and typical setting seen this many times with this type of movie. Sure its apparently based on a true story..... but whatever its feels like a thriller I've seen before, all a bit predictable and safe. I felt the young girl Lucy played her part well but the script was basic and so difficult for the actors to expand there own character into the role a low budget effort yes set in a farm basically with some pigs if you like that sort of thing but it didn't really help the film besides city folks moving to a country house and having problems how many times has that been done? I did watch it until the end but honestly not a film I would care to remember or recommend anyone else to watch.

Billy

Decent storyline... Typical lifetime movie...

[sayden21 · 5/10 · 11 October 2012]

One family comes face-to-face with the forces of the unknown in this supernatural thriller based on actual events. On April 14, 1755, something terrible happened to Lucy Keyes in the forest surrounding Wachusett Mountain. 250 years later, Guy (Justin Theroux) and Joanne Cooley (Julie Delpy) move their family into an 18th century farmhouse at the foot of the mountain to escape the city, and recover from the death of their youngest child to SIDS. It seemed like the perfect place to get a fresh start and raise their two young daughters Molly and Lucy. Upon discovering that the Keyes family had occupied the farmhouse at the time of their daughter's death, Joanne begins having strange dreams, and hearing haunting cries coming from the woods. After finding a letter admitting to the murder of Lucy Keyes, Joanne becomes convinced that Martha and Lucy Keyes' spirits are attempting to contact her in hopes that she can set them free from their earthly limbo, and begins to fear that their grieving mother plans to claim Lucy Cooley as a substitute for her own missing daughter. As Guy attempts to convince the townspeople to approve construction of a wind farm project that he's currently working on, his wife's sanity begins to slip and their marriage starts to falter. Joanne's attempt to expose the truth about Lucy Keyes' disappearance only leads to greater terror, however, when the townspeople turn on the family, and young Lucy Cooley vanishes into the woods one cold and windy night.

Waste of time

[jelkanders · 1/10 · 1 December 2014]

This was one of the worst movies I have ever watched. I fell asleep the first 2 times and only watched the final scenes so that I could fairly say the movie was horrible. The actors as father and youngest daughter are good, even well played with such a contrite, bland script. I couldn't stand to watch the mother. The acting, the writing, the story line... terrible. Usually, I just would find something else to watch but this was so awful, I had to review to prevent others from even considering this and the only way I feel I can write a review is if I did watch the movie in it's entirety. Terrible. Awful. And to even submit review I need to complete 10 lines of rambling so I just needed to add one more sentence. Ta da!