Henry Thomas and company deserved better material. All the main actors: Thomas, the family he's helping, etc, do very well with what they're given. The actress who plays the little girl easily delivers the creepy by the bucket load.
There's some technical prowess here with the atmosphere created by set design, lighting, and wardrobe, but that proficiency detracts from the supposedly "gritty" feel they wanted to borrow from horror films of yore. The filmmakers are said to have used certain techniques to make this look as if it were shot on film, but visually everything way too bright, sharp, and balanced. The only effect I noticed were the "cigarette burns" that flared up in the upper right of the frame once in awhile.
The plot has a solid foundation once we discover what's behind all of the happenings on screen, but instead of using the house's origin story to drive it home, it turns the villainous force into a generic "demonic" presence that still has enough manners to make it through Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Just do what we do: hide the silver and call the undead a cab.
There's some technical prowess here with the atmosphere created by set design, lighting, and wardrobe, but that proficiency detracts from the supposedly "gritty" feel they wanted to borrow from horror films of yore. The filmmakers are said to have used certain techniques to make this look as if it were shot on film, but visually everything way too bright, sharp, and balanced. The only effect I noticed were the "cigarette burns" that flared up in the upper right of the frame once in awhile.
The plot has a solid foundation once we discover what's behind all of the happenings on screen, but instead of using the house's origin story to drive it home, it turns the villainous force into a generic "demonic" presence that still has enough manners to make it through Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Just do what we do: hide the silver and call the undead a cab.