The Rite

Directed By: Mikael Hafstrom
Written By: Michael Petroni
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Collin O'Donoghue, Ciaran Hinds & Alice Braga
Rated: PG-13

MY RATING: C+

It's Anthony Hopkins in a creepy role, what else needs to be said?

Based on actual events.  In The Rite, Michael Kovak (Collin O'Donoghue) is an American seminary student who has lost all faith.  He is about to give up on being a priest when his mentor sends him to Italy to take a course in exorcisms.  Once in Italy, Father Xavier (Ciaran Hinds) who is teaching the course, learns of Michael's lack of faith and sends him to work with exorcist Father Lucas Trevant (Anthony Hopkins).  Through working with Father Lucas, Michael witnesses things that shake him a little but nothing he can't explain.  As his journey continues however he can no longer deny the presence of the devil and resurrecting his faith in God is the only thing that can pull him through.

I enjoyed this film but it wasn't that memorable for me.  It's difficult to critique the storyline since it's based on actual events. However I thought there were holes missing in Michael Kovak's backstory or maybe a clear enough picture wasn't painted.  There were many flashback scenes that in the end had no impact on the story.  Other than that I enjoyed the rest of the script. The exorcism scenes were quite disturbing as they should be.  Now I know they were trying to give Anthony Hopkins a Hannibal Lector type of role but this one didn't quite hit the mark.  Don't get me wrong, Mr. Hopkins did a great job but it wasn't as memorable as his Hannibal Lector character.  I did however love the arch that Michael (O'Donoghue) went through.  This story I believe is relatable to many people.  I even shed a tear towards the end of the movie.  Job well done on the makeup effects, special effects and use of locations.  Visually perfect.  As a drama this would be great, but did it scare me? Not so much.  However this is still a good exorcism movie to put on the list.


So I'd say see it but there's no rush.

The Haunting in Connecticut

Directed By: Peter Cornwell
Written By: Adam Simon & Tim Metcalfe
Starring: Virginia Madsen, Martin Donovan, Elia Koteas & Kyle Gallner
Rated: PG-13

MY RATING: C +

Well told story but not haunting enough for me. 

The Haunting in Connecticut is based on a true story.  It follows the Campbell family who relocates to Connecticut in order to get their very sick son, Matt (Kyle Gallner), the Cancer treatment he needs.  They find the perfect home but not soon after they move in, Matt starts witnessing strange events.  It is quickly discovered that their new house used to be a funeral home.  Desperate to get her son the help he needs, Sara Campbell (Virginia Madsen) is willing to overlook that simple fact.  However Matt is no so lucky when he starts having visions of the dark past locked inside the house.  As things escalate more and more the question becomes will the Campbells all escape the house before it's too late?

This one is pretty hard to critique because it is painted with the brush of being "based on a true story." Of course I had many moments where I wanted to yell at the screen, get out of the house! I never understand why the family doesn't leave as soon as strange things start happening. However, being that these are supposed to be actual events I had to let that be.  Although I must say they did a good job of making the audience relate to the mom's perserverance and anguish in wanting to help her dying son.   
Now on to the horror elements. The ghosts were visually somewhat disturbing. I grimaced a little here and there.  Nothing made me want to turn away so it wasn't terribly gory. With a PG-13 rating I guess that's to be expected.  Not much suspense for me either. I felt the "jump" scenes were pretty predictable so nothing really got me.  My main issue was the unrealistic looking special effects used in a climactic scene at the end.  If I'm spending all of my time focused on how divorced the actor is from the special effect he's supposed to be physically connected to then that's not good.  Luckily that was a small fraction of the film because the rest held up fairly well.  At the end of the night I was not disturbed by this film at all, which is what I like after watching a horror film.  But I was entertained.  It was nowhere near one of the scariest movies I've seen but it was a little creepy and kept me intrigued throughout.  The actors were good. The story was good. The make-up effects were great!  All in all, not bad.    

I'd say check this out but there's no rush.

Devil

Directed By: John Erick Dowdle
Written By: Brian Nelson (screenplay) and M. Night Shyamalan (story)
Starring: Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Jenny O'Hara, Bokeem Woodbine and Jacob Vargas
Rated: PG-13

MY RATING: C

Pretty good as a thriller but definitely not a horror.

Devil begins with Detective Bowden (Chris Messina) arriving on the scene to investigate the death of someone who allegedly jumped
from a high rise building.  Inside the building five strangers get onto an elevator which breaks down in between floors.  Tempers rise leading to strange events and even murders.  A security guard (Jacon Vargas) watching it all unfold on camera tells the story his mother told him about the Devil whom he believes is inside the elevator disguised as a passenger.  Now it is up to Detective Bowden to figure out who the murderer is before they all lose their lives.  The question then becomes, is the Devil real and if so how do you defeat him?

This one is pretty tricky because I liked it but had some minor issues.  Number one I was disappointed that it wasn't scary at all.  I wouldn't classify it as a horror movie.  The Devil is mentioned and in question but it's more like a murder mystery/thriller.  I'll even say it was suspenseful.  I jumped a couple of times, but it was missing some things.  I just felt like the story could've been developed more.  There was one flashback sequence involving one of the five elevator passengers but I would've preferred to have learned about more of them.  The story just felt rushed.  I mean it was only an hour and twenty minutes long!  They definitely could've added more.  But I liked the premise and it actually will make you take a look at your own life. 
At the end it was just okay.  Pretty entertaining but also a little disappointing. 

I'd say this is worth checking out but there's definitely no rush.

Insidious

Directed By: James Wan
Written By: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shayne, Barbara Hershey & Ty Simpkins
Rated: PG-13

MY RATING: C-

This is the story of a family of five who move into a new house where mysterious things start happening.  Wife and mom Renai (Rose Byrne) starts to hear strange noises and notice things being moved around in the house.  But the strangest event happens to the family's son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) when he falls into a coma that no doctors can explain or understand.  After this horrible event the family's luck gets worse.  Renai (Byrne) sees people in their house and her husband Josh (Patrick Wilson) starts to stray from their home and all of the turmoil inside it.  They decide to seek help and uncover more than they ever bargained for.  Secrets are unlocked along with the key to saving their son.

Now this film had a strong start for me.  I was definitely in suspense when the mom (Byrne) would hear strange sounds and go to investigate dark, quiet rooms.  I was intrigued by what happened to the oldest child Dalton (Simpkins) and drawn into the dad's (Wilson) internal conflict.  Sometimes what you don't see is truly scarier than what is actually there.  Once we get to the second half of the movie and the plot is revealed more that's when the film started going downhill for me.  It turned into a poor, poor knockoff of Poltergeist.  The old paranormal expert Elise Reiner (Lin Shaye) who comes to save the family was disappointing and just weird.  I did not enjoy her character at all.  But the most disappointing things for me were the ghosts.  When I see a movie like this I want to be scared or at least haunted and I felt nothing.  I actually found all of the spirits to be silly and ridiculous and the script really fell apart for me at the end.  The father (Wilson) travels to an alternate realm called The Further to rescue his son Dalton (Simpkins).  Elise (Shaye) paints a picture of The Further as a place to be feared but I found it to just be strange and disappointing.  There was too much build-up and a lot of let down.  This part of the film didn't even hold my interest all the way through.  I figured out the resolution so I was just anticipating the end already.  Also there's supposed to be this big surprise element that you'll never guess and leave the film talking about ... I was talking about it all right, talking about how silly it was. 

The only reason this film wasn't all bad for me is because of the first half of it, that was really good but the rest was not scary at all. 

So I'd say you can check this out on t.v. around Halloween time if it's in the middle of some kind of marathon.