20140221: Horror Review--Haunter

Haunter

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Canadian/French live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 97 minutes, horror, indie, supernatural.
2. IMDB: 5.8/10.0 from 4,384 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 52% on the meter; 38% liked it from 2,894 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.7/5.0 from 58,193 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Vincenzo Natali.
6. Starring: Abigail Breslin as Lisa, Peter Outerbridge as Bruce, Michelle Nolden as Carol, Stephen McHattie as The Pale Man, Peter DaCunha as Robbie, Samantha Weinstein as Frances Nichols, David Hewlett as Olivia's Father, Eleanor Zichy as Olivia, Sarah Manninen as Olivia's Mother.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Daughter Lisa, father Bruce, mother Carol, and son Robbie relive the same fogged in day everyday.  So what is the deal?  Lisa has the same conversations ad infinitum, but cannot convince her parents of this.  They have the same dinner, including macaroni and cheese.  She does the same laundry.  They ask to make preparations for her 16th birthday, which is tomorrow, that never comes.


2. Can Lisa break out of this time loop?  For those of you who have any reservations at this point, keep going.  It's worth it.


3. The ouija board works for Lisa.  Her question, 'Are you trying to contact me?'  Gets a 'Yes.'  Oh, my!  They don't have macaroni and cheese for the first time in years.  Her father takes up smoking.  They do not watch a rerun of Murder She Wrote.  So, Lisa must be on to something.


4. When a repair man comes by to check their telephone service, the weirdness continues.  The repair man gives her quite a warning: do not contact the living, or you and your family will suffer in ways you cannot imagine.  She sees herself reflected in his glasses: she sees a rotting corpse.  Life with her 'family' resumes as it had been.


5. Eventually she makes contact with Olivia, who is living in the house to which Lisa is stuck.  Olivia instructs her to look under the floorboards.  Lisa finds a scrapbook of newspaper articles about teenaged girls who have gone missing starting in 1953.


6. She finds a key and uses it.  She meets a girl trapped in a furnace.  The furnace flames rise almost immediately on the poor trapped whatever.  Soon enough Lisa finds that the house is owned and run by whoever does the killing.  He shows her some rather potent power of illusion.  Her parents and brother whither and vanish long enough for her to be terrorized.  Then they return unscathed.


7. She learns that Olivia has been doing research.  Lisa and her family died in 1985.  Olivia and Lisa trade places for a short interval.  Olivia's family is similar (dad, mom, two daughters), but exists around 2012.


8. Can Lisa stop the cycle of murders?  Can she find some sort of peace, perhaps with Olivia's help?


3. Conclusions
1. 'Meat is murder:' I could do without the PC bovine scatology.
2. One line summary: Ghost story told from the point of view of the ghosts.
3. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 Nicely done, but so dark.


2. Sound: 8/10 OK, but nothing great.


3. Acting: 8/10 Competent or a bit better all around.  Good casting; many good performances.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 This is a nicely written story, which hangs together well. The ending was a bit sweeter than I expected, but fit with the rest.