I found this somewhat randomly when scrolling through movies this evening. I thought the description was cool, so I went for it. I watched it on Disney+, but going by earlier reviews, it was made by Lifetime.
The film starts on Halloween 1957. Three kids approach this house, and two dare each other to ring the bell. Once they go inside, something bad happens. Cut to the modern day.
It's an okay lead-in, but we basically get dropped into the midst Kelly and Brian's marriage discord. The first scene with them involves their neighbors dropping off a pie. Sounds innocent enough, but Brian has a moment of hallucination about his female neighbor. Their marriage has apparently been in tumult for a while because we see them in a counselor's office discussing their problems. In fact, there is never a time where they seem happy - or believable - as a couple. Every time Kelly tries to be romantic, he blows her off and then complains that she doesn't understand him. He is also fanatically jealous. In short, Brian is a jerk.
I think the issues surrounding the Brian character speak to larger issues with the casting; it simply doesn't fit. Not only do Kelly and Brian not have any spark, but Sarah doesn't seem like their kid. I do think that Fletcher (Kelly) and Sohn (Sarah) are decent actors, and their performances help carry things along well enough.
Toward the end, Sarah goes missing - something that happens earlier, too. Only this time, Kelly calls the police immediately. There is no explanation why she chose to do that, so it's odd. Somehow, one of the officers realizes that Sarah is trapped behind a wall - again, with no explanation. Those logic gaps are weird and bring the film down.
The end is also anticlimactic. There is a tense setup as Brian has finally snapped and put Sarah in danger, leading to her calling Kelly for help. Kelly races home and confronts Brian, then he locks her in the garage. She busts her way out and finds the house is engulfed in flames (*cough* bad CGI). Then she turns around to find Sarah standing there. That's it. Brian, she later figures, set himself on fire in the house in order to destroy the demon.
The other odd part of it is that Kelly simply drives away with Sarah. You'd think the police would question her or something. But wait! She does get interrogated by an officer in a rather nonsensical face-off sometime later, and the officer accuses her of setting the fire to get Brian's life insurance payout, but nothing comes of it.
The next cut is to the property with a newly built home and a new family. The new husband and wife are, of course, unaware of the property's past and their goth daughter is the only one to sense something. The end.
I do give the creators credit for making some creepy moments when the ghosts materialize. The child ghosts and a shadow man are interesting. There are also some tense moments as Sarah interacts with the dark spirits.
On the other hand, the lack of cohesion in the cast, the logic gaps, and the weak ending pull the whole operation down. I've seen far worse horror flicks, but this one is a one-and-done.
The film starts on Halloween 1957. Three kids approach this house, and two dare each other to ring the bell. Once they go inside, something bad happens. Cut to the modern day.
It's an okay lead-in, but we basically get dropped into the midst Kelly and Brian's marriage discord. The first scene with them involves their neighbors dropping off a pie. Sounds innocent enough, but Brian has a moment of hallucination about his female neighbor. Their marriage has apparently been in tumult for a while because we see them in a counselor's office discussing their problems. In fact, there is never a time where they seem happy - or believable - as a couple. Every time Kelly tries to be romantic, he blows her off and then complains that she doesn't understand him. He is also fanatically jealous. In short, Brian is a jerk.
I think the issues surrounding the Brian character speak to larger issues with the casting; it simply doesn't fit. Not only do Kelly and Brian not have any spark, but Sarah doesn't seem like their kid. I do think that Fletcher (Kelly) and Sohn (Sarah) are decent actors, and their performances help carry things along well enough.
Toward the end, Sarah goes missing - something that happens earlier, too. Only this time, Kelly calls the police immediately. There is no explanation why she chose to do that, so it's odd. Somehow, one of the officers realizes that Sarah is trapped behind a wall - again, with no explanation. Those logic gaps are weird and bring the film down.
The end is also anticlimactic. There is a tense setup as Brian has finally snapped and put Sarah in danger, leading to her calling Kelly for help. Kelly races home and confronts Brian, then he locks her in the garage. She busts her way out and finds the house is engulfed in flames (*cough* bad CGI). Then she turns around to find Sarah standing there. That's it. Brian, she later figures, set himself on fire in the house in order to destroy the demon.
The other odd part of it is that Kelly simply drives away with Sarah. You'd think the police would question her or something. But wait! She does get interrogated by an officer in a rather nonsensical face-off sometime later, and the officer accuses her of setting the fire to get Brian's life insurance payout, but nothing comes of it.
The next cut is to the property with a newly built home and a new family. The new husband and wife are, of course, unaware of the property's past and their goth daughter is the only one to sense something. The end.
I do give the creators credit for making some creepy moments when the ghosts materialize. The child ghosts and a shadow man are interesting. There are also some tense moments as Sarah interacts with the dark spirits.
On the other hand, the lack of cohesion in the cast, the logic gaps, and the weak ending pull the whole operation down. I've seen far worse horror flicks, but this one is a one-and-done.