Spectres (2004)

KELLY is a beautiful young 16-year old who, like many teenagers, feels her life has become unbearably dark and depressed. Unable to make a meaningful connection with anyone around her, ... See full summary »

Director:

Phil Leirness

Writer:

Bud Robertson

Stars:

Marina Sirtis, Dean Haglund, Tucker Smallwood

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview:
Marina Sirtis	...	Laura Lee
Dean Haglund	...	Dr. Halsey
Tucker Smallwood	...	Will Franklin
Lauren Birkell	...	Kelly Webber
Alexis Cruz	...	Sean
Chris Hardwick	...	Sam Phillips
Loanne Bishop	...	Suzanne
Linda Park	...	Renee Hansen
David Hedison	...	William
Alexander Agate	...	C.J. Hansen
Lillian Lehman	...	Fran Mullins
Joe Smith	...	Mark
Neil Dickson	...	Walter

Storyline

KELLY is a beautiful young 16-year old who, like many teenagers, feels her life has become unbearably dark and depressed. Unable to make a meaningful connection with anyone around her, least of all her workaholic mom LAURA LEE, Kelly decides she'd rather be with her dad, who died several years before. The suicide attempt fails, but Laura Lee gets an urgent wake-up call and is determined to give Kelly some desperately needed attention. Hoping a change of scenery will help, mom and daughter rent a house for a long summer vacation. THE BIG HOUSE ON THE HILL offers peace, quiet, and ... mystery. They've barely unpacked their bags when Kelly catches a fleeting glimpse of SEAN, a good-looking young man who vanishes before she can catch up to him. Through several more encounters, Kelly develops a friendship with him, partly because of the physical attraction and partly because he is genuinely interested in her. Kelly seems to be opening up, enjoying her time with Sean and pursuing part-time ...

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Plot Keywords:

ghost

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Taglines:

Believing is Seeing ...

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Drama | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements involving teen suicide, and some scary images

Details

Official Sites:

Shadowland Films.

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Soul Survivor

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shadowland

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

A great ensemble cast, delivering great performances!

Just came from the North American premiere, that happened at Cinequest in San Jose.

Marina Sirtis, as well as Tucker Smallwood, Linda Park, the director (Phil Leirness) and script writer (Bud Robertson) were there, and we had a nice Q&A session with them at the end.

The movie was very good - I'd say excellent if it weren't for one thing:

The actors and director basically took the script in a completely different direction than the writer wanted initially. Which is a good thing, for the most part. However the end result is that the film cannot really define itself as a thriller/ghost story (like it originally was supposed to be) nor a like anything, really. It has ingredients of thriller, but it is mostly about a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship with some details of paranormal but without taking itself too seriously.

What makes it a very good movie is basically two things: wonderful performances by an ensemble cast that was hand picked (and will definitely attract lots of sci-fi fans, with well-known Trek alumni plus Alexis Cruz from Stargate/Stargate SG-1) and the fact that the underlying plot of the mother daughter relationship IS very interesting and very well played out.

The ghost story basically comes out as a plot device. This no Six Sense, no X-Files. :-) The actors and the director didn't take the ghost story seriously and that shows. :-) But that's OK - honestly, it makes the movie more interesting and fun to see.

Anyway, they said they've found an international distributor and a national one may be in the works - as soon as they figure out how to categorize this movie. If they do find a way - go see it. Even if you're not a fan of any of the actors, their work really deserves your 90 minutes (and $9).