Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: Returning home for her mother's funeral, a woman finds herself haunted by long buried family secrets.
Review: I think this is going to be another mixed bag for me. There is a lot of back and forth--certain aspects come off great while other moments appear flat out stupid. I had read others mentioning this film recently in regards to its fantastic twist, but I think that's actually one of its weaker aspects. Where this movie truly shines is in the excellent atmosphere especially at the beginning when you don't know what's going on. The story does play out unconventionally which helps when you would typically expect an all too familiar and cliched path. Unfortunately, things don't make complete sense by the end, and I'll touch on some of the more nonsensical elements.
Let's take a look at what works first. As I mentioned, the atmosphere is wonderful. Man, those early scenes are near perfect for building tension. Other filmmakers in this genre need to take notes, because this is how you successfully get people on edge with little effort and little budget. The scenes where the Nicole character disappears and later when the main girl, Annie, keeps finding things knocked over around the house are excellent. It's all about the lighting, claustrophobic camera angles, and subtlety to the sound and the actors themselves. Speaking of which, the acting is pretty good even from the likes of Casper Van Dien who I have never seen turn in a non-smirking out the ass performance until now. The mystery as to what is going on is intriguing as the film takes a surprising direction at one point; however, the clues and setup at the beginning are far superior than the later twists and turns. While there aren't really a lot of scares per se, the few that there are were decent and, again, effectively made use of a small budget. Finally, the twist is original and mostly unpredictable, but it feels problematic when considering other elements to the story. Eh, it has its moments, but I can understand why it would feel so shocking to others though.
Honestly, the negative aspects of this film mostly involve the twist and how it contradicts previous story elements. At face value we are intended to believe the ghost is the mom, but it's easy to realize it's not her. Then you are meant to wonder who the ghost was and how it relates to the mom. We finally get the revelation that the mother had a brother who was a serial killer that killed the ghost originally. But the main twist is that the brother has been secretly living in the house all this time in a room that was covered over to appear as a wall. This is a bit ridiculous and hard as fuck to swallow. First, we see the ghost doing all manner of shit and quite violently to boot. The ghost even saves Annie at one point which makes me wonder why the hell the ghost didn't just kill the brother herself?! You can't have a ghost this prevalent and powerful yet seemingly incapable of exacting revenge on her own! Plus, why the hell did the ghost wait all these years to take action? There is no explanation for that. And come on, a guy lived under some floorboards for like 25 years without anyone ever spotting him or catching the mom talking to him?! They imply Annie did see him once at some unidentified moment in her life, but it could have just as easily been a vision so who knows. Weirder still, are they implying Annie was actually the daughter of the brother and the ghost? I mean, they want you to make some association with Annie and the brother both having heterochromia (two different eye colors). And what the fuck is with that final zinger at the end? It felt so pointlessly tacked on I wanted to hit someone. Other than the ending related issues, there are a few lame moments like the makeshift ouija, a clairvoyant character out of the blue, and pointlessly making the setting Christmas when it does absolutely nothing for the story.
Overall, as much as the ending actually disappointed me, I think the positives far outweigh the negatives in this case. The atmosphere is simply spot on and they establish an engaging mystery that unfolds nicely. If the ending weren't so farfetched, I would have rated this much higher, but, as it stands, I think it was a good movie nevertheless. They could have downplayed the ghost entirely and reworked a few ideas to make the true reveal that there never was a ghost and only the brother running around the house. Oh well. If you can overlook or enjoy the ending, this would definitely serve for a nice little rental with genuine tension and a mystery that will keep you guessing.
Notable Moment: When Nicole slowly approaches the closet and fades into the shadows. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for something to happen, but, alas, the scene cuts. Incredible atmosphere though.
Final Rating: 6/10
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