Straight-to-TV, inspired by true events hokum
well that's what I thought I was getting myself into. However this dramatised case is a surprisingly eerie, bizarre and downplayed supernatural case that can get under our skin because the actual performances (the Smurls family) are sympathetically portrayed. The normal plot mechanics of the haunted house sub-genre are evident, and the atmosphere isn't particularly striking as it hangs there. You might think that if you see one, you've seen them all. But the predictable material does get more compelling further down the track, before coming to an unfulfilled abrupt conclusion that wraps it up. Everything (from the performances to the script) is done straight-face, with very little in the way of hysteria and humour. Patchy, but it works for most part. It heavily relies on story and mood, than say big special effects and lashing thrills. Although there's something just spooky about those reappearing spirit manifestations. Sally Kirkland and Jeffery DeMunn are capably good in the lead roles of Janet and Jack Smurl. Robert Mandel's crisply well-judged direction and Richard Bellis' hovering score added to the above-average production. I see plenty of jabs about the slow, ponderous pace, but I didn't feel it was that sluggish. Far from it. Slow, but not dull.
Review of The Haunted
