Director: Brian O'Malley
Year: 2018
Country: Ireland
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Ghosts
Plot:
Trapped in their ancestral home, a woman and her brother are trapped by the rules governed to them by the malicious beings holding them there and set out to try to live a normal life, only to cause the creatures inside to take exception to what's happening and try to ensure it stays the same.
Review:
This was a rather enjoyable effort. One of the strongest aspects of this one is the actual house where this takes place, which fully conveys the Victorian atmosphere of the setting. The massive, ornate wooden location that provides the areas and layout for a series of fine confrontations that come from the detailed order of their existence laid out before them. As the period setting also clearly lays out, the old-school feel of the entire piece leaves little doubt about the film's overall look and feel, coming into greater focus once the film brings out the concept of the curse they live under which is pure Victorian charm.
That does manage to setup the film's horror elements here as being quite creepy. Built on the concept of the figures in the lake having a decided effect on the couple, the early dreams of hers where she sees the nude beings hanging over the lake or coming after the girl while she and her friend are taking a trip through the woods of their house offering the kind of old-school style of ghost scares normally present here. The finale, where it includes the full extent of their curse coming to pass with a number of great encounters within the house of the ghostly beings interacting with them, creates a stand-out and truly chilling scene.
As well, the cast here is truly spectacular in here. Charlotte Vega as the lead Rachel is great here, running through the great Victorian angle of needing to move past the shackles of those before her and explore the world beyond but still stuck in the same prim and proper setting. Her brother Edward, played by Bill Milner, is equally great as the neurotic side that wants to keep the status quo and not anger the spirits which really is a despicable character but he still does great. As they carry the load of the film here and work around a great cast alongside them, that all holds it up over its' main flaw.
The main factor to hold this one back is the absolutely leaden and plodding pace that drags this down considerably. This unravels at such a lackluster pace that it barely feels like anything is happening, and with all the real action placed at the end this one comes off as quite uninteresting overall. That's not helped at all with the realization that nothing in here is really explained, as the concept of the curse is never brought up, the outcome of so many side-stories are instigated but kept ambiguous and there's no real impact to the stakes presented here. These elements here are what manage to drag this one down in the end.
Overview: ** 1/2/5
A truly mixed effort with some rather bland and boring pieces alongside some rather chilling setups that work rather nicely together, this is a rather nice mixture that has its positives and negatives. Give this a shot if you're a die-hard fan of old-school Gothic/Victorian era ghost stories, while those looking for more modern efforts should heed caution.
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