Stephen Abell
Since this is a television movie the subject matter has been toned down. This would have made a good average budget DVD release movie and could have handled the matter a little more accordingly.That said, the director, Jean-Claude Lord (who directed Visiting Hours (1982) and Second Chances (2010) - reviewed in my blogs), does an amiable job with the story by John Benjamin Martin and Donald David Martin.This is a ghost story, but due to lack of horror elements and the amount of time it takes to get to the ghostly action, it is more of a drama. This has so much of a TV movie feel to it. The characters are stereotypical; you can see the twists coming; and the characters relationships are pretty standard and have been done a thousand times before. Nevertheless, the actors and the director do make the film watchable... and at times, enjoyable.Lindsey Price who plays the lead role of Nikki Wickersham gives a passable rendition of a troubled woman who loses her husband, though it's not played as a tear-jerker. Nikki's friend, Margie Mancuso (played by Sadie LeBlanc) and her handyman boyfriend (Niall Matter) are pretty realistic and believable, to a point - this is a TV Movie, after all.It's the lack of direction the story takes which is a stalling point for the film. It sits uncomfortably between, drama, thriller, mystery, and horror. This makes it a bland affair, had the writers or the director chosen just one path to take this could have been better. It needed to be spookier with more tension. The mysterious elements could have been heightened and extended upon. Because the cause of the haunting is hateful, terrible, and unpleasant it was required to be much darker than portrayed here.If there's nothing on the telly and hell has frozen over, then you could do worse than watch this film.
Leofwine_draca
SECRETS OF THE SUMMER HOUSE is another time-wasting television movie with subtle supernatural elements. Yet again it sees a couple visiting an ancestral home in the boondocks only to discover that the building's sinister history means that the past is very much alive.The problems with this film are too numerous to mention: the predictability of the thing works against it, as does the insipid acting and the weak writing. The dialogue is noticeably cringeworthy, particularly in the way the information is continuously spoonfed to the viewer who is apparently unable to think for him or herself. The best thing about it is Lindsay Price, whose chirpy demeanour adds the only fun and life this film has.
mr_dark_eyed
that is why I kept watching. Lindsay Price. sexy and cute!! Everything else was so boring, and I knew the 'plot' will be exactly the way it is, from the very beginning. it is the most predictable ghost film. but probably one of very few ghost movies that don't scare or thrill. Rather.. turns you on. Thanks Lindsay Price.a 7 year old kid would laugh at the silliness and stupidity of the plot, dialogue, and every single detail.I think that film was only made for one sole purpose.. Lindsay Price. the 3 stars go to Lindsay. since I need one more line to be able to post this, I take the chance to mention how sexy Lindsay is.
rgcustomer
Based on who funded this film (skip to the end and watch the list of logos) you get basically what you expect. It takes an interesting premise, which should be suitable for a horror mystery, and turns it into self-parody. But not intentionally, and that's the problem. The accents weren't believable to me, and seemed to come and go. There were some laugh-out-loud moments, like the various times the local nut tells our heroine to use crystals for answers or protection. That works in many films, but here it was just laughable. Anyway, not to beat a dead horse, but don't waste your time unless you look at it as a MST3K experience.
AD
