A family moves into a haunted house. That much is certain from the very start when JERI RYAN foolishly purchases a house with strange noises coming from the basement. Ryan doesn't seem to have time to think clearly throughout the film. She's forever tossing back her unruly locks of hair and giving such an animated performance (with facial gestures on the move) that it's sometimes hard to just sit and follow the plot.
Clearly, the writers were intent on disguising the horror elements of the story in favor of setting up a mother/daughters relationship as the focal point. Horror is a subtext to all the talky moments between the mother and daughters which, at times, borders on too much sentimentality--as though the film itself has been targeted toward female viewers. The most natural performance in the film is given by the youngest daughter, PEYTON LIST.
As the oldest daughter, Lizzie, KAY PENNABAKER does a good job of portraying the older sister who eventually is inhabited by an evil spirit. But why she never tells her mother about the music box that plays by itself in her closet or the droplet of blood that comes from the ceiling when she peers at an old photo, is beyond me. We're told over and over again (as if the point needs to be made) that children seldom tell their mothers everything. And even after she experiences these weird happenings, she mocks her little sister for seeing things that aren't there. Her motives are never clear.
Anyway, the story is generally well acted, the photography is fine, the music is suitably quaint before the thundering chords are used for shock effect, and it does have some effective chills. But the story is padded out to fit the two-hour time and there are scenes that drag interminably before we get back to the heart of the hauntings.
Summing up: Easy to see why this is a made-for-TV movie.
Clearly, the writers were intent on disguising the horror elements of the story in favor of setting up a mother/daughters relationship as the focal point. Horror is a subtext to all the talky moments between the mother and daughters which, at times, borders on too much sentimentality--as though the film itself has been targeted toward female viewers. The most natural performance in the film is given by the youngest daughter, PEYTON LIST.
As the oldest daughter, Lizzie, KAY PENNABAKER does a good job of portraying the older sister who eventually is inhabited by an evil spirit. But why she never tells her mother about the music box that plays by itself in her closet or the droplet of blood that comes from the ceiling when she peers at an old photo, is beyond me. We're told over and over again (as if the point needs to be made) that children seldom tell their mothers everything. And even after she experiences these weird happenings, she mocks her little sister for seeing things that aren't there. Her motives are never clear.
Anyway, the story is generally well acted, the photography is fine, the music is suitably quaint before the thundering chords are used for shock effect, and it does have some effective chills. But the story is padded out to fit the two-hour time and there are scenes that drag interminably before we get back to the heart of the hauntings.
Summing up: Easy to see why this is a made-for-TV movie.