The Passing

Learning they've inherited their grandmother's mansion, a group of siblings decide to hold a party to celebrate the acquisition, unaware the spirit of the deceased hasn't left the home and is intent on passing on a grave family secret to them that will put them in extreme danger once they realize they're not alone in the house.

This was a really hard one to get a handle on, as there's a lot to like here but some utterly maddening moments as well. The best part of this one is the fact that there's a rather effective house where the action takes place in, which is well-suited to the types of scares present here with the lurking behind the corners, spying in the distance and such. Definitely gory enough as well, with some nice kills, and there's enough action to keep it interesting, but the problem lies in the fact that the film doesn't know what it really wants to be. Most of the evidence points to a haunted house/ghost film, yet a twist late in the film adds in a murderous deformed family member into the mix and it doesn't gel all that well with what's been shown/discussed and it comes off rather funky and weird. An incredibly dragging pace in the first half also lowers this, but it's still not too bad.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and Nudity.