The Skeptic Movie Review 68

First of all, I would like to say that I liked this movie. It hasn't gotten great reviews, but it was a lot better than some movies I have seen lately. It stars Tim Daly and Tom Arnold and it is directed by Tennyson Bardwell(What a name!).

The story is pretty basic. Bryan Becket(Tim Daly) is a hotshot lawyer who is a total sceptic. He doesn't believe in anything. His aunt dies in her house and he is delighted because he thinks that the house will go to him. He starts pricing everything in the house and seeing how much money he can make out of it. His pal is Sully(Tom Arnold) and he feels that there is something weird about the house. Sully does believe in the supernatural etc and he thinks that Bryan should be more careful. Bryan dismisses this. He is arguing with his wife, Robin(Andrea Roth) and he tells her that they need time apart. He decides to stay in the house for a while. Bryan moves himself into the house but that is when weird things start to happen. He hears noises etc and he discovers a locked door upstairs.


Bryan finds out that his aunt has left the house to some institute for the paranormal. He discovers that his aunt was interested in all things spooky and that she thought her house was haunted. Bryan does not believe any of it. He thinks that the institute duped his aunt into believing it and that they wanted her house all along. When he returns to the house,the locked door is open. He goes inside and he discovers all religious items. He gets locked inside and he freaks out, but then he discovers that he had caught his coat in the door. He hears weird noises that night. He visits the institute again and he apologizes for what he said. He tells the doctor that he heard things and the doctor tells him that he probably imagined it.


He meets an old priest, Father Wymond(Robert Prosky in his last movie) who knew his aunt and they talk about the house. The priest warns him about the house. Bryan is not impressed. Sully thinks that Bryan is cracking up and that he needs a break. Bryan finds an old truck in the basement. He begins to see things in the house such as a woman sitting in a chair and he hears whispering. He sees a woman at the bottom of the stairs and when he asks the doctor he tells him to seek help which he does. We find out that Bryan's mother died when he was young and they lived in the house. He is haunted by her death ever since. One of the patients at the institute, Cassie(Zoe Saldana) comes to stay as she wants to see if the house is haunted. She tells him that someone died in the house and they look around. Cassie tells him that the house is waking up and that his mother is in the house.


Bryan begins to have a breakdown. They look in the old trunk that he found and they find a doll in it. He remembers it from his childhood. He meets with the old priest again and the priest tells him about his mother and how she used to mistreat him as a child. He doesn't want to remember. He speaks again with his psychiatrist Dr Shepard(Edward Herrman) and he tells Bryan that his aunt was suffering from dementia and that Bryan left his toys on the stairs when he was a boy and his mother slipped on them and fell down the stairs and died. Bryan decides that he needs to leave the house. He goes back into the house to find Cassie but she has already left. He can't seem to escape from the house. He manages to fall down the stairs and he dies. He sees a vision of his mother who is waiting for him with tears in her eyes...Here is a picture of Zoe Saldana....Enjoy!


This movie was good enough for a low-budget affair. It was entertaining and it kept me watching. I have seen some very bad reviews of this movie, but it was a good movie, I thought. I am going to give it a 7/10.