The Haunting of Julia

Moviecut—The Haunting of Julia

Excellent adaption of Peter Straub's haunting (in SO many ways!) and gothic novel. Mia Farrow is well cast, and supported by tight direction and an intelligent script. Read the book first, however... Straub is king! (And not Stephen!)

I tuned in a bit late, perhaps 15 minutes or so, but I could tell right off that I'd hit upon something worth watching. I highly reccomend this to fans of "Don't Look Now", one of the most frightening movies I've ever seen. "Full Circle" has much the same feel, and some of the same subject matter. Others here have criticised the film's slow pace: I, for one, especially appreciate the Director's willingness to take time to build suspense and terror. I believe that silence is an important part of a horror movie (perhaps almost every kind of movie) and it's obvious that the Director shares my appreciation for what's NOT said. I won't risk spoiling this movie in any way: I merely suggest that, should you get a chance to screen "Full Circel", you savor the opportunity.

Mia Farrow plays upper class woman who lost her eight year old daughter due to tragic circumstances.Her grief is immense.She distances herself from her wealthy husband Keir Dullea and begins to live in a flat on the outskirts of London.When paranormal party séance starts she begins to see sinister manifestations of children around her.As the story begins to unravel it seems that it's connected with brutal torture and murder of a small boy many years ago...Adapted from excellent and truly creepy Peter Straub's novel "Julia" this slow-moving ghost story is effectively eerie.The acting is fantastic and the conclusion is unforgettably devastating.The piano-and-strings score by Colin Towns adds a lot to subtle atmosphere of dread.8 spectral visions out of 10.

Veddy British, veddy dull horror film. Mia Farrow is a very frail, timid woman who moves to a very large, built to be haunted house after her daughter dies and, surprise, it turns out to be haunted by a young blond girl who (gasp) looks just like her daughter!! The acting is bland and one note save for Tom Conti as Mia's brother-in-law and a bit part by Robin Gammell as a drunk with a "very big secret". The score is atrocious. The cinematography is gorgeous but it certainly doesn't help any. The book that it's based on "Julia" by Peter Straub is only slightly more interesting. For a good old fashioned ghost story from the same era, rent "The Changeling" with George C. Scott.

After the accidental death of her daughter, Julia (Mia Farrow) leaves her domineering husband Magnus (Keir Dullea) and moves into an old house. Soon she believes she is being visited by her daughter's spirit. But when people around her are murdered, Julia realizes this isn't her daughter she's dealing with. I wish I understood the logic behind casting Americans Mia Farrow and Keir Dullea and then making them speak with British accents the whole film (when they remembered). I just don't see what them being Brits contributed to the film but their poor accents did take away from it. So perhaps they would have been better off making them Americans living in England or something. Anyway, that bit of business aside, it's a by-the-numbers ghost story with some mindless killings thrown in for good measure. There's the creepy old house, the strange noises, the gauzy photography, the haunting piano music, the obligatory séance scene, the investigation into a decades-old crime, and so on. It's based on Peter Straub's first novel "Julia." Haven't read it but I see many people who have saying it's better than this film. I'll assume it must be. Ghost stories have always fared better in books where fear of noises and shadows holds more weight. There's nothing scary about this movie. While it is watchable, it has very little atmosphere and the pace is terribly slow. The murders do nothing to liven things up, either. It's really pretty dull. I wouldn't recommend bothering with it unless you're a Straub fan or a ghost movie nut who just wants to see as many of them as possible. The only other thing worth seeing here is Tom Conti's hair, which is admittedly magnificent.

Right at this moment, the best way for me to describe my feelings on this movie is that it is cutely, immensely sad. The inclusion of "cutely" there may appear.. strange. But there is one face I remember since early childhood (when I first saw this movie), and I'm not likely to ever forget it, nor the music accompanying it. While this movie was chilling in certain parts, the ultimate feeling it conveys (to me) is some sense of a heavenly, sad and beautiful evil. And also that feeling of how separated from the rest of the world the core story is, it's like an own universe where everything is about someone passing through time in darkness. The soundtrack really deserves a special mention. As a result of my love for it, I own it on CD (however, I still seek certain, quite brilliant versions of the songs on the CD that are only played in the movie). I couldn't think of anything better suited for this movie than Colin Towns' piano, which, at its best, describes that ephemeral glimpse in the mirror. As far as I know, this is Colin Towns' very first soundtrack, and, thus far, I've heard nothing with similar levels of originality, or similar style, for that matter, in his later works.

Usually, I'm not a friend of really harsh critics, but to my regret, I can't find a single good thing about that movie. There is no tension, no action, no humor, no erotic...nothing, but boredom. Not even for friends of Mia Farrow like me it's interesting. Most of the plot seems to consist of question which are not very interesting and the answers neither. Sorry, but this movie is just a waste of time and money. And it's such a pity, because I anticipated so much. I thought, it would be an eerie and exciting haunted house movie- and than that!!! So, let me give you the advice: Don't watch it! I really wonder, how it could be realized. Which producer is interested in such a lame script? Maybe they hoped to make money with the mere name of Mia Farrow.

This movie can better be found under the title "Full Circle". First and foremost, it must be put into perfect perspective: it was released years AFTER the blockbuster "The Exorcist". Such perspective should provide the reasonable expectation of suspense and supernatural horror, and this movie falls so far short as to have deserved the shelving it got -- those reviews that hail it as great and thankfully resurrected from the vaults of overlooked films are off base, because this movie deserved to have been forgotten. Why? First and foremost is the painfully sluggish pace, as it moves so slowly as to border on absolute boredom and disinterest. Second, the unexplainably disengaged characters, most of whom are dispatched (as in killed) with unexplained relationship to, and peculiarly disconnected from the opening sequence and start of the movie. Third, there is really nothing frightening in the movie, just oddity at best. I wasn't scared once, not even once. The brilliant actor Keir Dullea was relegated to a character of no importance and so was completely wasted in this film. Then there is the element of story/script credibility, which comes into question when a character is killed in unoccupied house, after which days and weeks go by with no discerned stench of the dead body. Frightening? Hah! Far from it, and the ending was ultimately anti-climactic, and thereby unsatisfying.

"Full Circle" (also called "The Haunting of Julia") is one of those movies that you can probably only find in Portland's Movie Madness. Featuring Mia Farrow as a woman experiencing strange things following the death of her daughter, it comes out a little confusing. Maybe the part about the murder years before was attempting to deal with xenophobia, but the whole movie seems like they strung together several other movies. I've never read the book on which this was based, but it apparently comes out a lot clearer. All in all, this is the sort of movie that you rent if there's nothing else to watch. Also starring Keir Dullea and Tom Conti. I wonder what the Chuck Jones/Mel Blanc crowd would have thought if, back in the days when they were creating the Speedy Gonzales cartoons, they'd known how he would get mentioned in this movie (especially given what followed the mention of his name).