Wait Till Helen Comes (2016)

When a reconstructed family moves to a converted church in the country, 14-year-old Molly, must save her new troubled step-sister from a dangerous relationship with the desperate ghost of a young girl.

Director:

Dominic James

Writers:

Mary Downing Hahn (novel), Victoria Sanchez Mandryk (screenplay)

Stars:

Maria Bello, Callum Keith Rennie, Sophie Nélisse

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Maria Bello	...	Jean
Callum Keith Rennie	...	Dave
Sophie Nélisse	...	Molly
Isabelle Nélisse	...	Heather
John B. Lowe	...	Sheriff
Abigail Pniowsky	...	Helen
Anna Pniowsky	...	Missing Girl #1
William Dickinson	...	Michael (as Liam Dickinson)
Logan Creran	...	Hyperactive boy
Robin Ruel	...	Nurse #1
Jerni Stewart	...	Teenage Girl #2
Kally Berard	...	Teenage girl #1
Frank Adamson	...	Mr. Simmonds
Tom Young	...	The Banker
Mary Downing Hahn	...	Librarian

Storyline

When a reconstructed family moves to a converted church in the country, 14-year-old Molly soon realizes that she has a gift and must use it; she has to face her deepest fears, and save her troubled step-sister from a dangerous relationship with the ghost of a lonely little girl.

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Plot Keywords:

church | ghost | teenage girl | stepfather | fire | 

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Taglines:

Kids love to spook each other.

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Genres:

Family | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 November 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Little Girl's Secret

Filming Locations:

Winnipeg, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 9,100,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Agoodah Pictures,Caramel Film,Don Carmody Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actresses for Molly and Heather are actually sisters in real life.

User Reviews

Decent enough if problematic ghost tale

Moving to a new house in the countryside, a blended family attempting to heal their wounds together finds that their youngest daughter has taken up a friendship with a girl who supposedly died years ago and forces the oldest daughter to break the spirit's hold over her to save the family.

This one wasn't all that bad of an effort for the channel. One of the more engaging aspects here is the rather fun job this does with building up the idea of the ghostly friendship that develops throughout here. These are far more intense than expected here as the first half gives this quite a solid set-up to start in on the ghost appearing to them, letting the first half then be filled with some rather enjoyable elements featuring the slowly-emerging cause of her befriending the ghost. Due to the film going for this slow-burn feeling of the revelation that comes about from her being slowly brought into the ghosts' control, together with the intriguing scenes of the flock of birds always seen to be congregating over their house or the girls' fascination with the spot in the woods where she plays that tends to freak out her sister, alongside a nice burgeoning mystery which gives this a lot to really like. Once it moves into the buildup and goes into actual supernatural antics, this one picks up and becomes incredibly fun. With this one delving into the fine buildup about the ghost girl and her intentions early on, the later half pays off these scenes rather nicely with the scenes painting her as a troubled, miscreant youth with these supernatural scenes playing up the possibility that she could potentially be doing it herself instead of the ghost so that the scenes of the swarming insects in the house or the fantastic revelations made that solve the mystery once and for all. That leads to the thrilling finale where it finally plays off these issues in grand style not only with the flashback but also the present-time action which are all woven together rather well. These here help to build this one up pretty decently although there are a few flaws present. As is to be expected from the channel's output, there are large sections of the film that really aren't that enjoyable for hardcore horror fans. Due to needing to keep the entire affair as family-friendly as possible, this one really struggles at times to be a horror film with the constant need to quit the building of suspense in order to keep the more appropriate forms of drama intact. Rather than engage with a rather intriguing and enjoyable ghost story about the house and its effects on the family, this one tends to go more into the teenage daughter's rightful annoyance and aggravation at the living predicament which isn't interesting, enjoyable or creative. It adds a drama-like feel to this one that undercuts a lot of the tension and suspense being built up which is a disappointment. As well, that also means that there's just not a whole lot of intense or truly thrilling moments this one could've had by keeping it censored and restricted for as much as it does, which isn't as detrimental but does hold it back somewhat.

Rated Unrated/PG-13: Violence, Language and children-in-jeopardy.