How could I have considered myself a scary movie buff and not known about this movie? I just happened on this movie last night (halloween 2005) on TMC. I loved it. Luckily I have a DVR and was able to pause it, put my daughter to bed, then come back to the living room, dim the lights, light a candle or two, then watch the ending uninvited, err . . . uninterrupted.
Some of what I loved about the movie were its subtleties in the story, the mix of relationships, its tongue-and-cheek humor, even in dire circumstances, the mood of the mansion, and the techniques used to "show the ghosts." The lights and darks and moods were wonderfully mastered. There is not one "normal" husband-wife relationship, yet the story pivots around a child and her relationship with her mother. I agree, along with my other writer colleagues, that there was a passionate relationship between Mary and Ms. Holloway. Check out those eyes on Ms. Holloway in her last scene! Not to mention the odd, but lovable relationship between the brother and sister having no problem living together in their mid 20's or early 30's. And the old-man doctor having the hots for the sister is just as entertaining as watching the brother have the hots for this "child" at least 10 years younger than he. I half expected the grandfather to fall for the house cleaner!
Some of what I loved about the movie were its subtleties in the story, the mix of relationships, its tongue-and-cheek humor, even in dire circumstances, the mood of the mansion, and the techniques used to "show the ghosts." The lights and darks and moods were wonderfully mastered. There is not one "normal" husband-wife relationship, yet the story pivots around a child and her relationship with her mother. I agree, along with my other writer colleagues, that there was a passionate relationship between Mary and Ms. Holloway. Check out those eyes on Ms. Holloway in her last scene! Not to mention the odd, but lovable relationship between the brother and sister having no problem living together in their mid 20's or early 30's. And the old-man doctor having the hots for the sister is just as entertaining as watching the brother have the hots for this "child" at least 10 years younger than he. I half expected the grandfather to fall for the house cleaner!