jmovies
Let's Call It A Bromance
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 7:22 pm Posts: 12333
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Haunt
HauntQuote: Haunt is a 2013 horror film by Mac Carter and his feature film directorial debut. The film was first released on November 6, 2013 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and was later released on video on demand on February 7, 2014. Haunt stars Harrison Gilbertson as a teenager that moves into a new house and goes through not only a sexual awakening but also a terrifying haunting.
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David
Pure Phase
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:33 am Posts: 34865 Location: Maryland
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Re: Haunt
This supernatural suspense film has a convincing and well-crafted exterior, but fails to find a satisfying rhythm and leads to an abrupt and underdeveloped conclusion. The storyline is the definition of standard-issue. There is the beautiful and isolated house left vacant for decades after a string of violent deaths. There is the family of outsiders, moving in for a fresh start. There are the subsequent bumps in the night. There are the brave teenagers who investigate, and there are the parents who are distracted and doubting, and so on and so forth. This is fine, though. Tried-and-true elements can still engage and jolt when executed well.
For a time, Haunt has promise: the house, located in a snow-swept forest, is a location with a genuine air of menace, with its long hallways and secret rooms. And the youthful protagonists are played well by Harrison Gilbertson and Liana Liberato. (People should remember her downright amazing turn alongside Clive Owen and Viola Davis in the undervalued Trust, playing a teenage girl whose life is upended by an act of statutory rape.) They generate a charming, quietly romantic energy, and it is hard not to sympathize with and root for them as they become more and more endangered. But the film is, no pun intended, haunted by a certain inherent mediocrity. It plays as if it is bored with itself due to the predictability of many plot points, such as an early indication of a supernatural presence via a sibling's new quote-unquote imaginary friend, and the rote, ungraceful touch with which they are run through. Despite the admirable haunted-house aesthetic and the strong performances, the content itself is never electrified or rendered interesting in any profound way.
C
_________________1. The Lost City of Z - 2. A Cure for Wellness - 3. Phantom Thread - 4. T2 Trainspotting - 5. Detroit - 6. Good Time - 7. The Beguiled - 8. The Florida Project - 9. Logan and 10. Molly's Game
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