Little Girl's Secret

source: Little Girl's Secret

I watched this because I loved the book. Maybe because it's been so long since I read it so I don't recognize all the errors but I thought it pretty good up until the end: I wanted more of a resolution for Heather. And Helen, I guess. There were a few loose threads but they didn't run the plot.

I didn't even finish this movie, it was so boring. The acting is terrible and the plot line is so basic and predictable. Terrible lighting and horrendous audio, I felt like I was watching a movie made by high schoolers.

Half an hour in, can barely see anything because it's constantly dark, the main girl is a sulky teen and the kid is a monosyllabic bore. I was doing something else at the same time and forgot I was even trying to watch it, didn't get my attention at all and I switched off about half an hour in. Not worth wasting your time on!

No character development. Most of the book isn't even in this movie. Hard to even make out what's happening due to how dark it is. The sound quality is horrendous, which really just consists of extremely loud annoying screeching. This book was a childhood favorite and they succeeded in utterly butchering it on so many levels.

This isn't a Disney flick, but it easily could have been because it's the kind of film Disney produced as a Ghost Story back in the 60s. Nothing really scary at all, but mysterious--and there are ghosts. Fun for the whole family. A nice Ghost Story for the holidays.

As I have so often said, unless a movie is overtly and crudely derivative, or engages in rank ripoffery (such as using an obviously and deliberately misleading title intending to make you mistake it for another, better "name brand" picture), I do not tend to deduct points simply because a particular movie might not be entirely original or unique. For the most part, if you think you've recently seen a completely unique movie, the chances are quite good that you're just so young you haven't seen enough movies to know that what you're thinking is original actually ISN'T. Genuinely original movies do happen, but only EXTREMELY rarely. Standing on ceremony and lambasting a movie because it's not completely original is akin to refusing to listen to any song more than once. Make an earnest point of always demanding true originality and you'll find yourself seeing only 1 or 2 movies a year, if that. And THOSE will be insufferable art-house garbage that is virtually unwatchable even if original. And with that build up, it should come as no surprise that WAIT TILL HELEN COMES is not particularly original or unique. Unfortunately, my propensity to forgive unoriginal movies is also insufficient to really save it. WAIT TILL HELEN COMES is nothing more than a ghost picture following a string-of-tropes recipe and no one involved with its making was particularly inspired to go above and beyond from the writer through the director and across the actors. Think meatloaf and mashed potatoes rather than a rib roast with pan-roasted asparagus. WAIT TILL HELEN COMES is just "okay", it's worth seeing (assuming you're willing to settle for the movie equivalent of comfort food...), but just be mentally adjusted for something run-of-the-mill with no surprises. It's execution of its tropes is more mechanical than scary. I will say there is one particular scene which is actually quite good and is the best of the movie. If you want to avoid having the best scene of the movie ruined for you, stop reading at this point. Keeping in mind that the movie focuses on the youngest female member of a family who becomes friends with the ghost of a little girl. In the best of circumstances, the living little girl character is socially backwards and clearly has a number of emotional "issues" of which her penchant for preferring the company of a ghost is completely in keeping with her general collection of undesirable behaviors. Not far from the home of the living family, hidden in the forest, is the wreckage of what's left of a home that burned down decades before and has been established as the erstwhile home of the little girl ghost. Near the end of the movie, while attempting to save/protect her difficult, ghost-obsessed little sister, the elder sister of the family goes into the wreckage seeking the little ghost girl. In an unoriginal but very well executed scene, the older sister is treated to a semitransparent rendition of the tragic events of the origin story of the little ghost girl overlaid upon what few pieces remain of the home that was once there. It's very sad and does a nice job of explaining how the little ghost girl came to be and why it is the little living girl so identifies with her and would prefer becoming a ghost to be with her rather than go on living in her current circumstances. And then the creative bubble is immediately burst in the very next scene where we uncover the other deceased family remains related to the little ghost girl in circumstances that make no logical sense. As long as you have your expectations set at the right level this movie can be enjoyable.

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.

This is a made for TV ghost story. Dave (Callum Keith Rennie) and Jean (Maria Bello) are married and have both lost spouses. Unlike the Brady Bunch, we eventually find out what happened to them. Jean has two children, Molly (Sophie Nélisse) an emotional 12 year old and Michael (William Dickinson), slightly younger and pragmatic. Dave has a daughter Heather (Isabelle Nélisse), younger than the other two. She is quiet and creepy. They move from Baltimore to a rural area in a church converted into a house. The year is 1982 as we get to revisit Walkmans, ripped jeans, cassettes, 18% car loans, and carbon paper. A ghost appears and befriends Heather. Not good. This was a vapor ghost that needed to open doors. Sophie Nélisse was satisfactory in her role while Isabelle Nélisse needed a bigger creep factor. No jump scares. The ghost needed a higher scare factor, i.e. some more creepy crawly.

Molly (Sophie Nélisse) loathes moving away from her late father's resting place in Baltimore. Her mother (Maria Bello) and writer stepfather Dave (Callum Keith Rennie) are taking her, brother Michael and troubled stepsister Heather (Isabelle Nélisse) to an isolated home in a small town. She starts to suspect Heather is falling under the influence of a spirit of a dead girl. This is a smaller horror. It's good to some extend. Maria Bello is the big name but she's in the smaller mom role. The apparition is unnecessary and probably detracts from the horror. They should play more with whether Molly should be believed or not. Dave could have been a threatening presence that the audience could suspect some abuse. The dreamscape is not nightmarish enough. The ghost reveal should come later in the movie. Otherwise, it's a functional isolate haunted place horror. The kids are good although the ending is lackluster.