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

While Meg is trying to break down the bricked up passageway through to the root cellar in order to find Harper, Penny falls into the root cellar via an open doorway in the floor outside the main entrance. Therefore, if Meg wants to reach Harper, all she has to do is enter through that doorway, meaning her smashing of the wall makes no sense.

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Connections

References The Omen (1976)

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Soundtracks

Westminster Quarters
(uncredited)
Traditional

User Reviews

Does what it says on the spirit box

A young family move to an isolated house which the mother has been hired to restore only to discover that presences still linger casting a hold over her artist sculpturing husband.

Taking a leaf from a James Herbert novel and channelling countless haunted films Altar is an effective ghost story chiller, however, what sets director/writer Nick Willing's offering apart are the practical and some special effects which have an optical natural feel as opposed to the usual ineffective blatant CGI.

Willing delivers some genuinely eerie visuals and creepy moments, this coupled with a great score and on location shoot help give some credence and atmosphere to the proceedings. Matthew Modine's Hamilton sports a Shining Jack Torrence like woollen jumper (the writer character is replaced here by an artist) and mimics Torrence's transformation (although quite speedy) still Modine gives an intense performance. Both the younger actors are effective, actress Antonia Clarke is notable as Penny. Olivia Williams gives convincing performance which complements the naturalistic writing and setting.

While it breaks no new ground in terms of ghost stories or twist endings it's a solid old school British horror.

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