James Wan sure knows how to make spooky films but unfortunately for me, this one was really unsatisfying. Without giving too much away, the ending left me gagging. Was this a Hallmark Movie-of-the-Week or a horror film? Is this Christian propaganda or am I too easily annoyed by such supposedly true stories? Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are fantastic as husband and wife paranormal investigators who assist in helping Ron Livington and Lili Taylor’s family, the Perron’s with the haunted house they just purchased but in the end I felt beat over the head with scary effects and cheesy sentimentality. Lili Taylor, an actor I love, gives one of her worst performances. I felt bad for her because what the script was asking from her almost no actor could make believable. In the end I’m tired of exorcism movies and here, while technically well-made, Wan failed at coming up with anything new to excite me. If you’re overly religious and easily manipulated by teary faces and moaning mothers than this will probably succeed at entertaining you. I just wanted something more menacing I guess. Grade: C+
Spoiler Alert:
Not all horror films have to have unhappy endings but if you’re going to have one, please keep it mysterious and scary. Poltergeist is a great example. Everyone lives but not without being forever changed and emotionally scarred. Here it’s all joy and we’re going to live happily ever after. Yuck.
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