HAUNT

Revolver picture Company

Directed by: Mac Carter

Starring by: Jackie Weaver, Brian Wimmer, Ione Skye, Harrison Gilbertson, Liana Liberato

I mixed up on the first sight when the beginning of the scene on this film showing me how Franklin Morello get connected with his dead family with some supernatural radio. But it turns out to be a house that’s been haunted like Amityville Horror, which I thought about a haunted radio like I’d seen on Possession with a Dybbuk box. 

The idea about supernatural radio is something fresh but the tense decrease on the next round. The abandon house finally got new owner, Asher family, who filled it after being left so many years. The Asher actually heard about creepy story about the house, which taken the lives of the member of the previous family, but it don’t matter for them and they decide to have it. That was the same story of mine when my family move in to some house in the small town, Cilacap, everyone knows that our house is haunted but my parents choose to ignore, not because they’re brave enough but because the house was given by my dad’s office as a house office.

Alan Asher and his wife Emily also move their children, the teenagers Evan, Sara, and Anita for coincidence to be the exact number of the previous dead family. And there’s something weird about the attics that become Evan’s room. The central character was Evan, the weird phenomenon begun when Evan meet Sam, a girl who’s been crying in the woods, and to be honest if that happened to me I surely will step away from a creature who’s crying alone in the middle of nowhere like that…

This mysterious girl hanging out a lot with Evan and she stayed in his room at one night after she’s got fight with his father. I didn’t know about people in US, but here in Indonesia I will hung my son if he suddenly introduce some strange girl who came up from his room in the morning in our house. And the family let Sam live as she pleased on their house until the girl brought some trouble thing to Evan, like pursuing him to play supernatural radio that was belong to Franklin Morello.

One thing I found weird is how Matt, the boy who owned the room before Evan, reacted. By his voice that comes from supernatural radio he sounds mad to Evan, I didn’t know why, is it because he’s taken Matt’s room? But at the end of the of the story, Matt turns out to be a victim of the thing that haunted the house…is it better if the writer make Matt sounds to be a little bit hysterical? Afraid maybe? And he contacts them to warn them about the assassin creature…

The fact is, it sounds like to ghost didn’t like the appearance of Evan there so it’s something about seizure of territory. Many unusual things happened on this film, things that illogical like I’d said about a boy who introduced some girl with unknown status to his family, a family that not concern about strange girl who lived with one of their member in the attic, and how they left Evan alone at the house with the girl like that, how come little baby Samantha who carried by Franklin could return to his drunken father?

Well, these movies indeed haunt me? Not with the fine haunted scene but with unanswered question above…and with so many characters, the whole family, I think its worthless if it turns out that only two characters, Evan and Sam, that were being haunted…so worthless…

QUITE ONES

Hammer Film Production

Directed by: John Pogue

Starring by: Jared Harris, Sam Clafin, Erin Richards, Rory Fleck-Byrne, Olivia Cooke

Didn’t expect much bang or ghost on this film because as I seen on its trailer it’s some kind of psychological horror, so there’s must be more act than appearance so that’s why I was surprised to see several of it at the end. During the hours I have busy to compares the film with the real fact, which had to be inspiration for this movie, that I’ve read on Phillip Experiment, it was some experiment of parapsychologists in Canada in 1970 who try to prove human mind could produce a ghost through imagination and visualization.

It began at Oxford in 1970 when Joseph Coupland was showed some cases on his parapsychology class. Joseph was the man who always tries to define supernatural thing with science, everything should have logic explanation and that’s why he hired Brian, local cameramen, to document his experiment with his two assistant, Krissi and Harry, to study and cured odd woman who’s possessed by demon names Jane Harper.

Joseph team were using modern and scientific methods like Electronic Magnetic Pulse (EMP) to tracks negative energy from ghost, sensor camera to photograph an aura from Jane to shown the figure of the thing that bothers her, they name it Evey and I found it very amazing in that period, also playing loud rock music in order to kept Jane from sleep so her agitation could increased the activity of that negative energy.

Science versus supernatural, that’s what I think about this film. Two elements that always interested when it’s collided, and Joseph, with his ideology and logic tried to explains every strange manner on Jane and persistence to his conclusion that Evey is only some creature that made inside the head of Jane. Brian upset because the experiments hurting Jane and its lack of ethic, it’s proves nothing than making their subject harming herself and the apparition of Evey get aggressive.

The cameramen who finally had doubt on Coupland theory finally looked up from some evidence on library and he found that the symbol that marked on Jane’s waist was a symbol of an occult sect called Lillitu, which worshiped Sumerian demon, and they killed a young girl a few years ago because they believe with doing so they could bring their god into the physical world. The young girl’s name was Evey Dwyer and with her abilities she killed all member of the sect by set them on fire inside a burning house.

It’s some example of a horror movie that used less visual effect, besides the apparition of a long tongue that come from Jane’s mouth, but the story it’s tense for me. The mixed between paranormal activity angle by Brian’s camera and a regular horror movie was fine. But the songs that played on that movie not represent the periods. Bertha Butt Boogie by Jimmy Castor Bunch was released in 1975 but it’s played on the movie which set up in 1974. And Cum On Feel the Noise by Slade indeed released in 1973 but appropriated in 1974. Perhaps Paranoid from Black Sabbath will do more.   

Another thing, if it’s true that Jane Harper was haunted by Evet Dwyer, or I’ve said Jane Harper is Evey Dwyer herself, why she said the ghost is a baby? A baby who’s trapped in fire, with some stuffed to convince the team that the appearance was baby creature, see also the shape under the blanket on the baby box while in reality Brian discovered that Evey Dwyer was trapped in fire when she was teen.  

Is she lies because she already knew that she’s Evey? Or it’s some mistake by misleading from the writer? Well, to found out about it I think you should check the movie on yourself…