Teacher Patrick Wilson, wife Rose Byrne, and their kids move into a new house and soon start experiencing all manner of horror clichés…er…strange happenings. Then their son (Ty Simpkins) has an accident and ends up in a coma, and three months later he is discharged from hospital, still in a coma (unlike any the doctors have seen before), to be cared for at home (Really? If they’ve never seen such a coma before, why would they let him out of hospital?). The spooky goings on continue, and even moving to another house fails to prevent the terror from continuing, as it also starts to chip away at a once happy marriage. Barbara Hershey plays Wilson’s mother, who seems to know more than she’s letting on (and presumably not just because a ghost made frequent booty calls to her back in 1983), whilst Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson play a paranormal investigator and her two goofy underlings.
It’s hard to make a truly scary haunted house/ghost movie, and whilst this film isn’t especially scary, it’s better than anything else director James Wan and writer/co-star Leigh Whannell (the creators of the “Saw” franchise and “Dead Silence”) have thus far given us. That’s enough for me to recommend it, even if it won’t make you forget “The Haunting”, “The Entity”, or “The Changeling”. Or “Poltergeist”. Or any of the other 999 films it seems to pay homage to. The distinct whiff of plagiarism will really get on some people’s nerves here (and “Saw” films will hate it for being so antithetical), but if you like this kind of film, it’s actually quite fun, even with the always blank Patrick Wilson in the lead. It also succeeds where “The Strangers” failed by having very little going on early in the film without losing the tension. It’s pretty creepy, and kinda like “Paranormal Activity” (whose director, Oren Peli served as EP here) minus the faux-documentary angle.
Some of it is genuinely eerie and effective, and when done right, this kind of thing is right up my alley. Next time, though, guys, how about a little originality? I mean, the characters played by Whannell, fellow Aussie Angus Sampson, and Lin Shaye are obviously rip-offs of “Poltergeist” (albeit quite amusing just the same), and the séance reminds one of “The Changeling” rather too much to be considered a mere homage. Mind you, Shaye’s big mumbo-jumbo speech is fun and eventually introduces a unique twist on an old, clichéd subgenre, and the séance scene, rip-off or not, is so insane as to still be enjoyable. Barbara Hershey’s casting is one bit of homage that I appreciated, however (As will anyone else who liked her in the terrifying and underrated “The Entity”), as was the Freddy Krueger-esque imagery at times.
This is definitely Wan’s best-looking film, thanks largely to cinematographers David M. Brewer and John R. Leonetti (the latter having lensed “Dead Silence” and “Piranha 3D”), who mostly shy away from the bilious-looking filtered visage of the “Saw” films. Terrific camerawork at times, actually, and even when filters are used, it’s judiciously so.
If you like your paranormal horror to take a more dramatic, slow-building approach, then this is certainly a highly watchable entry into the paranormal/haunting subgenre. Rose Byrne is particularly excellent and sympathetic, and the title is especially apt. It’s a little too reliant on clichés and homage to truly draw you in, but it’s undeniably enjoyable for the most part. Now can someone please explain to me how Patrick Wilson still manages to get work?
OVERALL SUMMARY
Sure, it relies on a few too many clichés (way too many ‘boo!’ jump moments), but overall this one’s pretty well done for what it is.
