Altar (2014)

A young family moves to an isolated house which the wife has been hired to restore, only to discover that the previous owner is reputed to have murdered his wife.

Director:

Nick Willing

Writer:

Nick Willing

Stars:

Olivia Williams, Matthew Modine, Antonia Clarke

Cast

Cast overview:
Olivia Williams	...	Meg Hamilton
Matthew Modine	...	Alec Hamilton
Antonia Clarke	...	Penny Hamilton
Adam Thomas Wright	...	Harper Hamilton
Richard Dillane	...	Greg
Howard Lee	...	Frank
Jonathan Jaynes	...	Sean Donnelly
Rebecca Calder	...	Isabella
Steve Oram	...	Nigel Lean
David J. Peel	...	Telephone Engineer (as David Peel)
Mark Heenehan	...	Brad Mason
Stephen Chance	...	Charles Kendrick Walker

Storyline

The Hamilton family move into a large country house on the Yorkshire Moors to supervise its restoration from a dilapidated B&B to the original Victorian grandeur. When Meg Hamilton, wife, mother and renovation expert first loses her London team after an accident, then a local Yorkshire team too superstitious to continue, she's forced to carry on alone. The discovery of a secret attic room, a Rosicrucian mosaic, a bricked up root cellar and many other unexplainable events gradually convince Meg, her husband Alec and children Penny and Harper, that they're not only restoring the house, but also its original Victorian owners who died 150 years ago. But before they can escape, the house - and its former occupants - force them to spend one last, terrifying night under its roof.

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Plot Keywords:

ghost | mother | country house | teenage daughter | altar | 

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

When first shown on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, the film's title was Haunting of Radcliffe House.

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Goofs

Meg discovers a hidden passageway in the house of which she has no prior knowledge. However, as a renovator, she would need to have detailed knowledge of the building plans. In fact, even the man who initially agrees to help her is aware of the passageway while she is not.

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Connections

References The Shining (1980)

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Soundtracks

Westminster Quarters
(uncredited)
Traditional

User Reviews

Average, unless you factor in the waste of a near-perfect location

I love a good ghost story. I practically worship a great ghost story. Sadly, Altar is neither. It has its moments, and it's not a complete waste of time to watch, but in my opinion it started with all the makings of a truly interesting story and mixed it all up into a batch of...mixed up.

The true star of the film is its Yorkshire manor location. Now, if I'd been handed this set to work with (and if I, you know, actually made movies), Altar is NOT the story I'd have come up with. I actually felt a bit annoyed at the movie for not living up to such a classic haunted house setting! The premise was simple enough, and it started out in fairly contemporary spooky fashion, but there was just not the right kind of follow through. Rather than spine tingles and after-view thoughts about mortality, the climax delivered only a mash-up of effects and incoherent, half-explored themes.

I will say this: the actors who played the children did great. Williams did fine in her role, and even Modine did the best he could with what he was given (his character was the biggest mess in the mix, with some truly uncomfortable scenes - and not in a horror/mystery sort of way).

Generally, you could do a lot worse for your hour and a half, but if you want a great haunted house / ghost story, look elsewhere. It's been done a thousand times better at least hundreds of times already.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 February 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Altar

Filming Locations:

Yorkshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Content Media, Pygmalion Productions, Sandover Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1