Lie Still (2005) User Reviews

Lie Still: Probably should have been worse

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 23 January 2018]

Within moments I thought I'd got this film all worked out, I braced myself for the worst and accepted my fate. Thing is I was actually off base.

Lie Still otherwise known as The Haunting Of 24 is an English horror that tells the story of a man who after breaking up with his girlfriend proceeds to move into a bedsit within a large building full of people who just want to be left alone.

He quickly begins to see horrifying visions and questions his sanity, is he losing his mind or is some malevolent force at work?

Well despite being British (I rarely enjoy British films) and despite being rather unoriginal this isn't all that bad.

Considering the subject matter it's passable. We see our hero falling apart, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery and fight off the advances of his horny pensioner neighbour.

Not great, but a harmless time killer.

The Good:

Fairly interesting

The Bad:

Messy in places

No real originality

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I learnt nothing, I just took my brain out relaxed and got on with the highly generic ride

Lie still ... and sleep tight!

[Coventry · 4/10 · 23 March 2006]

Well here's a movie that probably will be long forgotten before it properly hits the lowest shelves of second-class rental stores… "Lie Still", the debut film of Sean Hogan, simply hasn't got anything to offer that makes it memorable. Gorehounds will drop out instantly, as the film doesn't feature the slightest amount of action or excitement. Partly because there wasn't enough budget for special effects but mainly because Hogan clearly intended to bring an old-fashioned atmospheric and story-driven ghost story. Fine by me! I encourage the revival of intelligent suspense-horror, but the problem here is that the script of "Lie Still" is as superficial and basic as can be. After the painful break-up with his girlfriend, unemployed and soft drugs addicted John Hare moves into a cheap room of an ancient house. He hopes to take a fresh start, but the house soon turns out to be a haunted place where the restless spirits of previous residents still dwell around. A premise like this immediately reminds you of popular films like "The Others" or "The Devil's Backbone" and thus you begin to prepare yourself for a supernatural and totally unexpected twist in the end. The problem with "Lie Still" is that this particular twist never comes! Okay…so there are ghosts in the house and all this relates to the vicious history of the house's first owner who's buried in the backyard. That's it? Where's the climax? This movie ends exactly like it began: slow, uninteresting and anonymous. The only positive elements I can possibly mention are a handful of atmospheric sequences and only ONE ingenious finding (the people inside the television set). I picked up somewhere that the screenplay was written in only a couple of weeks (I believe that), but that it took another two years before the required budget was raised. What budget? I bet most of the money was spent on coffee & medication in order to keep cast and crew members awake during filming. The acting performances are fairly satisfying, though, and Hogan's inexperienced approach of the genre occasionally does look charming.

Dies toward the end. Pun intended.

[event3070 · 5/10 · 26 October 2007]

This film was decent, certainly better than expected. The performances were strong and the directing was good. The setting really gave this film a nice feel.

The pacing slowed toward the end however, just when I expected things to heat up. I was on the edge of my seat a couple of times, ready for a scare but the scare never really came. So while the film did a nice job of setting the tone and creating a frightening atmosphere, it never really punched it home.

As far as the story is concerned, it never evolved, nor did it offer anything that you weren't already expecting. Furthermore, the characters didn't have any real history. Basically, nothing was fleshed out here. Granted, I realize you don't often get that sort of thing in a horror film but I thought this film could have benefited greatly from it.

In terms of cinematography, it had sort of an amateur feel, no doubt a result of the low budget. However, this may have helped rather than hurt matters, as the film did not rely on special effects and gore to create suspense. Everything good in this film was earned. There was nothing cheap about it.

For example, the greatest moments in the film come without the use of either special effects or gore - the first meeting with the old woman and the happenings concerning the old photograph on the wall.

Overall, the film is worthwhile but you'll probably agree that it fizzles out in the end.

Disappointing, dull and almost unwatchable

[slayrrr666 · 2/10 · 10 July 2009]

"The Haunting of #24" is one of the worst horror films around.

**SPOILERS**

Hoping to start over, John Hare, (Stuart Laing) arrives at an apartment complex the landlord Martin Stone, (Robert Blythe) shows him to where he will stay. Upon moving in, he begins to find strange notes in the building demanding that he leave, which he refuses to acknowledge and ignores. As more time goes on and he continues to experience strange events in the building with no explanation for anything, he gradually begins to suspect that their stories are true, even though girlfriend Veronica, (Nina Sosanya) doesn't believe it either. When she finds herself in the grip of whatever is causing the trouble, he gets to the root of the problem and tries to get to the bottom of it before it gets even more serious.

The Good News: This one barely had anything fun about it. One of the pluses is the stuff within the TV, which are somewhat cool in concept and execution. The first scene, where the static-filled television show turned into a lone figure looking into the room through the screen, which is somewhat chilling when it keeps the ruse when the viewer notices it. There's also a good later scene where a collection of unknown figures are there holding a captive in the same kind of set-up as before, which is what makes it so chilling. Perhaps what makes it work even more is the fact that this later scene is set-up even more-so with the lone suspense scene in the film, where a long, extended search in a darkened hallway is accompanied only by the glare of the flashlight, which results in the film's lone attempt at making something potentially exciting happen. That it leads into the second TV scare is where it works. The last good part to it is the film's single murder, not because of how graphic or brutal it is but simply because, for once, the film decides to actually do something to generate some excitement. That's all this has going for it.

The Bad News: This one is a film loaded with all sorts of completely detrimental and plaguing problems. One of the bigger ones is that there's just a never-ending series of scenes or ideas that were intended to scare but don't come even close to doing anything. The idea with the notes is just utterly retarded, and is rightfully ignored since there's no way to know their intent or purpose, or even when they were written and can apply to anything, yet here are underscored with a musical sting to indicate they are supposed to be of terrifying order and must be swiftly handled. It just comes off as lame. The deal with headstones in the garden might've worked had it actually done something with them rather than just show them once and completely ignore it afterward, not even have anyone else come up to say anything about them. The banging door sequences are perhaps the closest here to actually working, but are effectively killed with the same problem, there's no follow-through to them. Later urging to investigate are mostly laughed off or not even mentioned, and it devalues the tactic. The other main tactic intended to scare, the constant mentioning of missing items, is just best left untouched, as it's just terribly done and does nothing at all for the film. The film also tends to ignore a couple or rather important questions, in that there's no clue as to what's in control of the building, if it's some supernatural force or a singular person or even if that's indeed what's happening. This one has absolutely no questions answered at all, just making it a complete blank as to what is the source of the problem and what has to be done to deal with it. That alone takes a really long time to get through, making for a lot of really confusing moments of it trying to clarify matters. The last flaw, and perhaps the biggest one in the entire film, is the complete and utter dullness that permeates everything. From the dinner with the girlfriend to the meetings with the neighbor that get nothing solved or accomplished, this one is just full of scenes that are dull and not worth any purpose, making for a completely apathetic viewing experience. Even worse, it manages to make the film as a whole so detached and lifeless that it's barely interesting the longer it gets to stay invested, slowing down when it should pick up and in the process, just becoming so dull that it's hardly worth it. These here are the film's problems.

The Final Verdict: Completely terrible and has no redeeming values of any kind, this one here is in the upper echelons of the worst in the genre, if not the very worst. There's really no way you'd want to see this one, but if you still want to, for whatever reason, don't go in with too high of expectations.

Rated R: Graphic Language and Mild Violence

I will not lie still for awful movies

[movieman_kev · 2/10 · 31 October 2012]

New tenant to a decidedly run-down apartment, John Hare (Stuart Laing of Eastender & Holby City fame) soon realizes that he's not very welcome in the place that may indeed by haunted in this slow-moving low-budget British horror film.

Now when I saw slow, I don't mean it's a slow-burner as that would imply that it was lot in the first place. No this film is slow in a clunky, meandering, go nowhere kind of way. Having seen the lamentable "Summers Moon", I can tell you that the writer does get better in his sophomore film as opposed to this one, if only marginally so. This one isn't interesting in the least and the acting is bad as well.

Welcome to the House

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 12 August 2008]

After breaking-up with his girlfriend Veronica (Nina Sosanya), the unemployed John Hare (Stuart Laing) rents a cheap room in an old boarding house owned by the nice Martin Stone (Robert Blythe) and the landlord tells him that the house is crowded by discreet persons. John does not see any other tenant but a bizarre old woman (Susan Engel) in the house and during the nights, he sees weird things on his television and hears violent knocks on his door. When John calls Veronica, she notes that he is near a breakdown after many sleepless nights and decides to stay with him. However, Veronica vanishes during the night, leading John to an ultimate decision.

"Lie Still" has an extreme low-budget, but a good direction, great acting and a scary nightmarish atmosphere with suitable use of lighting. The plot is disclosed in slow-pace, succeeding in transmitting the distress and confusion of the lead character to the viewer. Unfortunately the movie fails with the disappointing conclusion, and the viewer never knows what John might have done to be in the limbo (or hell). Or is he just stressed and imagining the situations? What is the meaning of the tombstone with the words "Lie Still"? But on the contrary of other reviews, I would like to see another movie of director Sean Hogan to have a better evaluation of his work. If this director has the chance to read my review, I would appreciate receiving an explanation about the open conclusion of the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Noites de Agonia" ("Nights of Agony")

Not bad at all

[VanillaLimeCoke · 7/10 · 2 October 2012]

This film basically does to boarding houses what the Shining did to the hotel.

Without really much to spoil I was pretty satisfied about this film. It wasn't overly gory or profanity (although it could have had less, but these English films). It was just creepy and scary. I really enjoyed the part with the little girl playing ball.

The story is basically just a guy renting a cheap room, but strange spooky things keep happening that soon drive him insane. The only 2 people there are a crazy old estranged lady and a nice humble old land lord.

What this film really reminded me of, was this TV series that had an episode called Dreams in the Witches House. It seemed exactly like that. If you've seen that and liked it, you'll want to see this.

Only problem with this film is that, it kind of asks a bit of questions at the end (and the profanity IMO was just a bit heavy).

One other thing though, there's a clip after the END CREDITS