Altar (2014) User Reviews

Ghost story which borrows heavily

[btraish · 5/10 · 27 December 2014]

The Altar is a ghost story in the classic tradition. Meg (Olivia Williams), Alec (Matthew Modine) and their children move in to a decrepit Yorkshire mansion whilst Meg restores it for the owner. Over the next couple of months the haunted nature of the house becomes apparent, with the usual banging sounds, slamming doors and ethereal appearances. Most of the film relies heavily on Olivia Williams and she does an OK job, with Matthew Modine limping in towards the end.

Undoubtedly, the film borrows heavily from other ghost and spirit films, most notably The Shining, but it was almost like playing bingo, identifying tropes from other films as it progressed, such as The Exorcist, Don't Look Now, etc. The TV movie feel and austere feel of the grand old house give a 1970s drama feel to the film. Some may associated this with quality drama, some with cheap production values.

There are some plus points: the old Yorkshire mansion and it's windswept grounds give a good background feeling, and the explicit pictures of the ghosts is usual and scarier than most in the genre - more like The Grudge than Turn of the Screw.

Overall, I was left with the question, why? Did this movie really need to be made?

Confused

[begob · 4/10 · 27 December 2014]

Haunted house story.

A couple with money worries and two kids move to an old house on the moors so the wife can work on renovating it for her client. Turns out the house was the scene of a murder and suicide a long time agoooo ...

This is very busy, with lots of plot points and subplots. Plus you get to channel The Shining, The Grudge, and The Woman in Black. But in the end you're left with no idea where the evil comes from - just that it's something to do with a Rosicrucian ritual with no clear purpose.

There are four characters who come and go purely for exposition - the client, the builder, the killer's ghost, and the ghost whisperer. Turn up, give a little speech on the back story, and ... poof - they're gone for good. And strictly speaking the son isn't necessary either. And what is the victim's ghost up to? Saving the next victim, avenging her own death?

There's a vial of some liquid, a bizarre red potion, blood here and there, a mysteriously ringing telephone, and some google research. The jump scares are not effective (no fridge door!), and at no point do you fear for the female characters. It's a mess.

The production and acting are quality (how old is Modine - doesn't look good from certain angles), so the director's screenplay has to take the blame. Ghost stories are all about dark secrets, but this one skipped that part of the process.

ps. I'm completely wrong - look at all the reviews posted in April 2015. Hehe!

Average, unless you factor in the waste of a near-perfect location

[hilbertjl · 5/10 · 21 April 2015]

I love a good ghost story. I practically worship a great ghost story. Sadly, Altar is neither. It has its moments, and it's not a complete waste of time to watch, but in my opinion it started with all the makings of a truly interesting story and mixed it all up into a batch of...mixed up.

The true star of the film is its Yorkshire manor location. Now, if I'd been handed this set to work with (and if I, you know, actually made movies), Altar is NOT the story I'd have come up with. I actually felt a bit annoyed at the movie for not living up to such a classic haunted house setting! The premise was simple enough, and it started out in fairly contemporary spooky fashion, but there was just not the right kind of follow through. Rather than spine tingles and after-view thoughts about mortality, the climax delivered only a mash-up of effects and incoherent, half-explored themes.

I will say this: the actors who played the children did great. Williams did fine in her role, and even Modine did the best he could with what he was given (his character was the biggest mess in the mix, with some truly uncomfortable scenes - and not in a horror/mystery sort of way).

Generally, you could do a lot worse for your hour and a half, but if you want a great haunted house / ghost story, look elsewhere. It's been done a thousand times better at least hundreds of times already.

Does what it says on the spirit box

[amesmonde · 15 August 2015]

A young family move to an isolated house which the mother has been hired to restore only to discover that presences still linger casting a hold over her artist sculpturing husband.

Taking a leaf from a James Herbert novel and channelling countless haunted films Altar is an effective ghost story chiller, however, what sets director/writer Nick Willing's offering apart are the practical and some special effects which have an optical natural feel as opposed to the usual ineffective blatant CGI.

Willing delivers some genuinely eerie visuals and creepy moments, this coupled with a great score and on location shoot help give some credence and atmosphere to the proceedings. Matthew Modine's Hamilton sports a Shining Jack Torrence like woollen jumper (the writer character is replaced here by an artist) and mimics Torrence's transformation (although quite speedy) still Modine gives an intense performance. Both the younger actors are effective, actress Antonia Clarke is notable as Penny. Olivia Williams gives convincing performance which complements the naturalistic writing and setting.

While it breaks no new ground in terms of ghost stories or twist endings it's a solid old school British horror.

A half-baked load of rubbish

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 29 December 2014]

It's always a warning sign when a film bypasses cinema release to go straight on TV, so when THE HAUNTING OF RADCLIFFE HOUSE (original title: ALTAR) appeared on UK TV on Boxing Day I knew something was up. And, unsurprisingly, it turns out to be very bad indeed: a complete rip-off of a film made by people with no understanding of how the ghost story genre works.

The film features a pair of past-it actors (Olivia Williams and Matthew Modine) as a married couple who move into a creepy old mansion in the Yorkshire moors with their bratty kids. Unsurprisingly, the place is haunted, and the haunting takes the most obvious route imaginable: dumb ghost scares ripped off from THE GRUDGE, a possession straight out of THE SHINING, and a myriad other scenes ripped off from elsewhere. When the film does try something new (like a ghostly encounter in broad daylight) it just falls flat.

The production values are acceptable here, but the level of cliché is just too high for it to be enjoyable. The grey filter cinematography has been done to death, the performances are shrill and histrionic (and Williams just CANNOT carry a movie) and the scares silly. Oddly, much of this seems to have been copied from an old favourite of mine, the '90s-era video horror game PHANTASMAGORIA, except without the fun factor. Throw in some dodgy historical rumblings and an equally dodgy cameo from SIGHTSEERS star Steve Oram and you have a complete train wreck of a movie. M. R. James would be spinning in his grave...

Alter - Review

[akvinby7-198-735070 · 2/10 · 28 December 2014]

I was tempted to give this film only 1 star, but some of the actors worked fairly hard at making it credible and the location, the setting, is good. The script is rubbish though. It is not a coherent narrative but many disjointed scenes and events that do not flow, the way a story should. WHAT exactly is the purpose of the daemonic ritual that (accidentally) killed Petal/Isabella? Evidently, something to do with metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls, but WHOSE soul is being moved on and WHY, and into what new body? We are never told. So far as I am aware, the Rosicrucians do not go in for that sort of thing; they just have a lot of harmless, if silly, rituals and ideas - rather like the Freemasons.The female ghost haunted her husband and drove him mad to the point where he jumped out of an attic window. Why? If "he loved her more than life itself" and her death was an accident, this makes no sense. The male ghost appears in broad daylight, wearing modern apparel, desperate to gain entrance to the house. Surely a ghost has to wear the apparel he/she wore when murdered or killed or committing suicide? He also ought to be speaking the English that was spoken in his own lifetime; NOT modern, present-day English. His language would have been the English spoken in Regency times. Did they have the concept of a "local historian" in 1845? These things do annoy me! The writing is unforgivably sloppy in every possible way. The husband is fixated on blood. Why? This is evidently the male ghost possessing him, but why was HE fixated on blood? None of this is clear. The writer has just cribbed bits from every major horror and ghost story, it seems, but sadly, he is unable to give his story a credible voice. The self-driving car sequence is utterly ridiculous, with the symbols written in blood appearing spontaneously all over the car. What is that crouching creature running around in the cellars? How does that fit into the narrative? Why is a disconnected telephone ringing late at night? The Holy Water the ghost whisperer gave to the daughter did not work, as you will discover right at the end. Possibly it would have been more effective had he been permitted by the mother to perform an exorcism. I am amazed that the writer actually made money from this very weak script and that it was filmed at all.

Cliché mash-up that never gels

[gintroubad · 3/10 · 23 April 2015]

If you've seen a fair share of horror films, you can tick off not only the mash up of plot points but the composition of shots, camera tricks, and the musical flourishes.

The Legend of Hell House, The Amityville Horror, The Shining, The Haunting, Rose Red, Dead Again, Darkness, Burnt Offerings, Poltergeist, The Ninth Gate, etc. It's strange and weird enough, but the plot doesn't cohere and devolves into the straight to video mess it is.

By the time things turn a corner and the elder daughter starts to get rolled into the mix, it's like you're watching a new movie, as if they're trying to restart in the third reel. But that's the film in a nutshell, constantly restarting with a new conflict that sort of connects but not really.

Rather a pleasure to see

[sam21462 · 7/10 · 29 December 2014]

**Spoilers**

I must begin by freely admitting that I am a sucker for a good ghost story. While I agree with many of the other reviewers on the point of it having borrowed from other films of the genre I do not tend to find that nearly as problematic as others. It is nice to see a modern film that takes a step back to a more Gothic styled ghost story.

Creepy noises and strange sounds abound. Ghosts make their appearance early and often and in various forms. In an interesting way the form of the spirit seemed to be a function of the spirits intent, a refreshing take amongst the tried and true ghost forms that are used.

I was reminded in a most wonderful way of the 1944 film "The Uninvited". Perhaps it is the mixture of ghosts and artists but I would have been little surprised to have heard "Stella by Starlight" in the background at some point.

While the movie is good it is a good example of a great genre style that is too seldom done. To me that elevates it above many of the problems others seem to have.

Horrendous

[vitocorleone9001 · 2/10 · 28 December 2014]

This is genuinely one of the worst films I have ever seen. Reviews are usually over- exaggerated with ratings but I can assure you 2/10 is very generous; the only reason I've refrained from giving it 1/10 is that I was laughing at most scenes. The plot was poor, under-developed and obvious (just like the characters) and the script was really lazy. I was already playing cliché bingo thirty seconds into the film as the generic movie family drive into the deserted old spooky mansion at night. If I tried to identify all the clichés in the pile of crap I would surely exceed the thousand word limit imposed on me. On to the characters. The protagonist is really dumb and frequently acts in a very irrational way. There is one scene which comes to mind in which she is pretty much raped by her obviously-crazy husband (this is after he rubs blood on her back and takes pictures if her in the shower) and then the morning after she's addressing him normally again and seems completely fine. One thing I can say is that the acting isn't too bad. It isn't good, but it certainly isn't terrible considering what the actors had to work with. The young kid isn't seen much in the film until the end, but the archetypal 'moody misunderstood teen girl' features often and the actress does an okay job. The father is no Jack Nicholson, although he does his best to replicate his performance in "The Shining", which most of the story is basically lifted from anyway. Plot devices and conveniences are used often and it is through these devices that the audience are spoon-fed the details of the (obvious) plot. They even go so far as having the old thick-accented local Yorkshireman who mumbles a warning to the naturally non- superstitious protagonist about ghostly occurrences or whatever. Later on, a random ghost hunter appears out of nowhere for the sole purpose of developing the confusing plot. It's quite funny how he appears, explains why there's a ghost and then vanishes again; it's nothing but lazy writing. There is so much obvious foreshadowing that you could probably work out the entire plot before the title sequences. Why have re-incorporation if you make obvious what you're going to re-incorporate? Finally, the ending. Oh god, the ending. It quite literally gave me a brain aneurysm. I genuinely felt my brain cells dying. Why does every horror movie feel the need to add a ridiculous twist to the end of a film? As if the other hour-and-a-half of clichés wasn't enough the director decided to eliminate every last shed of credibility this film had by including this atrocious final sequence.

Please, DON'T watch this film. It's not scary at all and you will find yourself confused, angry and bewildered by the bad writing.

Gothic Ghost Story

[elliott78212 · 7/10 · 23 April 2015]

Nick Willing best known for his epic TV Mini-Series like Nederland and Tin Man, takes us on a different journey out on the mores. Just when you thought the days of atmospheric storytelling had given way to shaky cameras and CGI comes this chilling tale it grabs you draws you in gently with strange often inexplicable behavior from Mathew Moline. Eerie noises fill the quiet architecture and landscape. Olivia Williams delivers a strong performance as the wife and mother and its through her you find yourself saying don't open that door, don't walk in the dark, you will find some genuine scares. Reminiscent of classics like The Haunting, Ghost Story and more recently the Woman in Black. Crappy, atmospheric, chilling, well paced, directed with finesse and style, captivating yet chilling camera angles Mr. Willing has won many Emmy's for his writing and directing here he shows the ability to create engaging mature Gothic horror for adults. I gave it a 7.

Slow, tedious and generic...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 2 August 2019]

I sat down to watch the 2014 movie here in 2019 solely because it was a horror movie and because I hadn't seen it before. I can't claim to have ever heard about the movie, nor did I know who starred in it prior to finding it by sheer random chance.

The storyline in "Altar" was fairly adequately. It was, however, suffering from being sort of generic and also from having way too little happening throughout the course of the entire movie. This made the movie feel rather prolonged and tedious, to be honest. And I must admit that my interest in the movie dwindled as the story trotted on and on with director and writer Nick Willing at the helm.

For a horror mystery "Altar" was lacking horror elements, so the mystery labeling of the genre would be more accurate. There simply was nothing scary anywhere in the movie, despite the fact that director Nick Willing was eagerly trying with some jump scares and stereotypical scenes to spook the audience. The only problem with this was, that it simply didn't work.

The atmosphere in the movie was adequate, and definitely had potential to add a lot of flavor to the movie. But this wasn't really properly utilized, and it just sort of fizzled without any greater effect.

As for the acting in the movie, well Olivia Williams and Matthew Modine definitely carried the movie quite well.

All in all, then "Altar" was a less than mediocre movie in terms of entertainment value and enjoyment. It was watchable, for sure. But it was hardly a particularly memorable or outstanding movie. For me, this 2014 movie will fade into oblivion without leaving a lasting impression on me. There are far better horror movies readily available if you enjoy a proper horror movie.

Gave me chills!

[skitch4007-420-278497 · 9/10 · 30 December 2014]

Loved this movie. It gave me chills. There hasn't been a movie that has done that in a long time. I read the other posts about "stealing" from other movies. OK...Fine. But they did a great job of putting it together. It was the pace of the movie. The other movies referenced in the other posts...Those movies were too slow. The pace of this movie was great. Thanks editor. And Olivia Williams was awesome.

Maybe they could do a sequel and bring Olivia back. Did the painter really "fall" into the fountain? Maybe he had some help and "Meg" needs to help the spirit get revenge. I would watch that if the editor comes back too.

This is a "horror film" that is better than most. Have you seen the latest horror films? This beats them all. I would love a sequel. Thanks for the chills!

Old-fashioned haunted house movie

[michael-3204 · 6/10 · 2 December 2015]

Atmospheric haunted house horror about a designer who moves her husband and kids into a spooky Yorkshire manor she has been hired to restore. Beautifully shot on location, director/screenwriter Nick Willing makes the most of the subdued, wild beauty of the Yorkshire moors. I wish we had a better sense of the gorgeous house the family takes over -- for all the reliance on secret rooms and bricked up passageways, the internal layout of the house remains vague and generic. Also less defined than they should be are the couple's two children, who we don't get to know very well. This makes the peril they are in less compelling than it could be. Olivia Williams does a great job as the emotional center of the film, trying to hold her family together in the face of mounting financial pressures and a menacing presence that seems to grow more powerful. Like many such stories, the supernatural here is an expression of the resentments and strains that have crept into William's marriage to her failed artist husband, played by a miscast Matthew Modine. While it doesn't break any new ground, "Altar" builds and mostly maintains a high creepiness factor, especially when Modine discovers a new medium and new canvas for his art. This is a good, old-fashioned, restrained horror film, well worth checking out.

One of the worst horror films I've seen!

[allyatherton · 3/10 · 26 January 2015]

I had everything organised. My wife and kids were in bed. The dog was in bed. I turned out the lights and I was all good and ready to be scared.

It didn't happen.

This film is just one big bundle of bubble wrapped cliché! The performance by the main actress wasn't too bad and I thought she did her best to carry a weak script. A poor script which was further hampered by some dodgy acting from her kids and husband who was as wooden as a garden shed. I was literally cringing at the amount of horror movie clichés in this film. I was half expecting the possessed husband to start screaming 'Here's Johnny, at one point.

Add to this precarious mix some terrible special effects which I can only describe as being almost 'Photoshopped' looking. Then pour in a few cameo actors who were simply hilariously bad! The guy who played the ghost hunter looked like an out of work comedian who had just popped along for the day. The guy that came to fix the telephone connection was probably an actual telephone repair man that happened to be on set and the less that is said of the builder, perhaps the better.

Good points. The main lead actress was quite good considering what she had to work with. I can't think of any more good points.

6 is too high! It's not very good.

[Finfrosk86 · 4/10 · 2 June 2015]

No, this is not great filmmaking.

(Must be a lot of cast and crew having rated this on here.)

Just going to ramble about this in no special order.

Some places it seems like they have used, I don't know, Adobe Premiere effects, or worse yet, effects that are in the camera itself.. Thats a little wtf, right?

As far as I can remember, one or two short scenes are almost creepy, actually. But they are way outweighed by what is wrong, and bad, and not creepy.

Olivia Williams is annoying as crap! She has the worst looking hair, and it is even a point in the movie! I got mad just looking at her stupid hair. That's not good.

There is nothing new here, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but what is here, is not done very good, and that's a bad thing.

The plot with the wife and the husband and the story of the house and the this and the that, could have been cool, but it is just not good enough.

One scene with a sculpture and some smashing is kind of cool. Best part of the movie.

Utter Nonsense

[arun_latvia · 1/10 · 21 August 2015]

Luckily I didn't spend a dime for this nonsense, I downloaded it online. I couldn't say this is the worst horror I've ever seen but its one on the list. The acting is weird. There is no story build up. There is nothing in this for the movie to get a rating of 5+. While I downloaded it, it was 6.8+. Good movies like Unfriended was far more better gets lower score and this shitty crap gets 6+. I don't know what else to type. If you got chance to watch it, then please burn the disc or delete the file from your PC/Mac. Save your time and try to put a 1 rating to show the power of IMDb. I just don't know what else to say, just wanted to complete this 10 line thingy.

Plot has been seen before

[lynne-ashcroft2 · 4/10 · 2 January 2015]

The plot of this film appears to be more or less a complete rip-off of a two-part 'special' called 'The Prayer Tree' by David Kane from the paranormal investigation series 'Sea of Souls' first shown in 2007. Replace the Rosicrucians with the Golden Dawn and the whole premise is 'hauntingly' familiar. The original story was also a lot better and made more sense! Other elements in the film also seem to have been borrowed from elsewhere, as noted in other reviews. The atmosphere of menace which should have been built up was not maintained, and the film really didn't raise any chills. Not a good use of viewing time, I'm afraid.

Was OK

[gloriathomas · 7/10 · 15 September 2016]

Altar started very well it had a very bleak dark look to it at first thinking this will be good. It was not a bad film it kept me interested the whole time. But the ending was a bit out there and I think it should have kept it a little to the way it started. Not a bad idea but could have been better. The acting was average the location was very good made you believe ghosts wee in the walls. It did offer some cool scares at times but not enough I feel. A pretty decent score helped at times. Pretty good cinematography also gave it a good look.

I would tell people to see this as it was entertaining at times. Check it out when you have time.

Why was this movie made?

[f-rabit · 8 September 2015]

This is a bad movie. When I knew the cast, I thought it had to be good. Experienced actors with a great curriculum of good movies. Well, it started out very bad and it gets worse till the end. A lot of clichés. The same and old ones that everybody saw in thousand of other horror type movies. Bad acting, which surprised me. It seemed that Mathew was not there at all....he was around the movie scene and stopped a while to make some filming. Didn't feel him at all. The plot, it's old and the same one, ever and ever again. The effects are bad and didn't scare one bit. Not even the slamming doors, or the sounds...nothing is capable of scare in this picture. My question is: why someone bothers to do a movie like thousands of other? and why did the actors accept being part of this? I really don't understand. There are a lot of stupid scenes also. It's really not good enough to spend time watching.

Skip This One. Watch These: The Changeling 1980, The Legend Of Hell House 1973, The Asphyx (1973).

[Vivekmaru45 · 3/10 · 26 August 2015]

Also watch The Haunting in Connecticut (2009). Back to this film, Altar. The film is about the Hamiltons, a family that moves into a large country house on the Yorkshire Moors to supervise its restoration from a dilapidated B&B to the original Victorian grandeur.

Unknown to them, the house is haunted because of the many ritualistic sacrifices conducted on an altar located in the root cellar of the mansion. The spirits of the mansion make themselves known gradually, and when the do, a foreboding sequence of events are set in motion...

The only well known actor to me is Mathew Modine(Full Metal Jacket (1987), Pacific Heights (1990), And the Band Played On (1993, HBO Cable)). To me this marks a low-point in his career as an actor. He is a favorite of mine, and I have seen many good films in which he has starred. Opposite him is Olivia Williams(The Postman(1997), Rushmore(1998), The Sixth Sense (1999)) a well known English film, stage and television actress. Williams has a much larger role than Modine in the film - she is the main character of the film.

The director Nick Willing, in his directorial feature-film debut, is unconvincing. He handles the subject matter in a drab way. He has directed the film from his own screenplay, and it is either the screenplay which is at fault or the fact that it is unsuitable material for a genuine horror film. The film was a bore. I found my mind wandering to other things - rather than the film I was watching. The actors also are unconvincing. They act just to get the job done and are not involved with the film. This also shows the weakness of the director for not getting more out of these capable actors.

The sound effects are inadequate, the special effects are those you see in U.S. TV serials maybe ten or fifteen years ago. The effects do not scare you as most horror films do, nor do they provide atmosphere to the film.

More horror movies to see: House on Haunted Hill(1959), The Innocents(1961), The Haunting(1963), Burnt Offerings(1976), The Amityville Horror(1979),The Shining(1980),Poltergeist(1982), Haunted(1995).

Thanks for reading, may you live long and prosper.

The good slightly beats the bad

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 22 May 2016]

The first thing I'd have to say about The Haunting of Radcliffe House (Altar) is that it's too long, the lesser elements of this TV film failed to hold my attention, I got a bit bored with it at times. The positives, who doesn't love a ghost story, it's been done a hundred times before, but it's still watchable, it still has a few jumps, and the story itself is an interesting one. Antonia Clarke, playing daughter Penny, was easily the best performer throughout, she was great.

The bad bits, it's been done before, you could spend ages picking out the film references, there are too many to list, The Skeleton Key is heavily referenced. The acting is generally a little amateur, I'm a fan of Olivia Williams, but she isn't great here, maybe it's the clunky direction, but none of them seem well serviced, Antonia Clarke somehow manages to add something. I think they tried to be over creative, some of the 'arty' scenes were way off.

A good plod. 6/10

A fairly ordinary and confusing supernatural drama

[Prichards12345 · 5/10 · 28 December 2014]

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.

old school horror at its best

[jpdhadfield · 10/10 · 1 November 2015]

i read the reviews of this film before i watched it, many were critical, but i was pleasantly surprised to find myself scared, hands over face in bits, a traditional ghost story, where my imagination did most of the work.many have said it takes parts from other films, doesn't every film,i mean has anybody seen a totally original film, really? the film lulls you in, in the true old fashion way, gives you a family, in a creepy house, has things happen, nobody believes them until its too late. i liked the slow move of the film,the weird altar , hidden rooms, stuck doors, the ghosts, no need for gore , or screaming people, it felt realistic, as to how you might react to spooky situations. if you like hammer house, you'll probably like this.

Should be a 7, not 5.6

[redrobin62-321-207311 · 7/10 · 6 November 2016]

Okay, what this movie is not - The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, Carrie or The Shining. Does it have elements of those classic films? In spades. I'm guessing the shortcoming here was the budget. It could've benefited from more special effects, but it is what it is - a ghost story.

I feel bad for the movie because there's nothing original in it. You've seen everything in it before. As a matter of fact, some of the scenes were so carbon-copy The Shining that Kubrick must be rolling in his grave. I gave the film a 7 because, seeing it, I didn't feel it was a waste of time. It was a relatively solid possession/ghost story movie, and it definitely reminded me of the fare being exported from South Korea; still, it wasn't a total time waster. Would I watch it again? Not really. For whatever it was, it was decently made. I'm not complaining.

Seen it before

[dana-kellish · 5/10 · 20 February 2020]

Not terrible, but I think I liked it much better when it was called The Shining (the boy even resembles Danny Torrance).