This could have been a much better movie simply with a different edit. The production design is excellent, the performances are all good, and this is a genuinely decent haunted house story. What kills this film is the sheer exhausting number of fake shocks, all scored with screeching violins. I also think that the ghostly presence is revealed way too soon. Why do modern films seem so petrified of boring their audiences? If they had had just a little more patience in this film then some of the big scares would have been so much scarier. As it was, an enjoyable Victorian ghost story.
Yours is the first review I've read of this film, Peter. Since I usually wait for Netflix, this sounds like a better stay at home movie than one to actually wander out to see.
ReplyDelete'Screeching violins' - too bad.
Don't you hate it when a film just needs a few tweaks to set it straight?