Despite some good work from Olivia Williams and Mathew Modine this is a haunted house tale with too much supernaturalism, too many concrete ghosts (one even poses as a historian and undertakes a conversation with Meg) and a general feel that the author didn't know what the central haunting was all about. Why so many ghosts? Why the blood?
The Haunting of Radcliffe House, as it is known in the UK, has some effective cinematography but feels like a string of ghostly phenomena without much plot. At one point the son is menaced by some rapid, moves on all fours, creature. Like so many other things it's never explained who this is. A car suddenly, with the aid of some poor cgi, becomes covered in astrological symbols and rather hilariously moves by itself to the middle of nowhere with the son and daughter inside. Getting out, they find an artist's portrait of themselves, presumably painted by the ghost of Radcliffe?
One is tempted to ask "What the hell is going on?" Apparently some sort of Rosicrucian ritual is to blame, involving an artist and his wife, who died accidentally. It is never explained exactly what this ritual is supposed to do, though soul transference appears to be at the heart of things. Nor why the spirit of the artist seeks to possess Meg's husband and enact the ritual all over again.
Those looking for an M.R. James style story are likely to be disappointed. This feels a bit like a cross between The Amityville Horror and The Shining, and suffers by comparison.
The Haunting of Radcliffe House, as it is known in the UK, has some effective cinematography but feels like a string of ghostly phenomena without much plot. At one point the son is menaced by some rapid, moves on all fours, creature. Like so many other things it's never explained who this is. A car suddenly, with the aid of some poor cgi, becomes covered in astrological symbols and rather hilariously moves by itself to the middle of nowhere with the son and daughter inside. Getting out, they find an artist's portrait of themselves, presumably painted by the ghost of Radcliffe?
One is tempted to ask "What the hell is going on?" Apparently some sort of Rosicrucian ritual is to blame, involving an artist and his wife, who died accidentally. It is never explained exactly what this ritual is supposed to do, though soul transference appears to be at the heart of things. Nor why the spirit of the artist seeks to possess Meg's husband and enact the ritual all over again.
Those looking for an M.R. James style story are likely to be disappointed. This feels a bit like a cross between The Amityville Horror and The Shining, and suffers by comparison.