Wraith

source: Wraith

I was looking forward to a good horror movie and as others have mentioned, half way in it becomes clear the matriarch is left with the decision to abort the fetus or let some evil take it... the house was fabulous though!

'Wraith' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an slightly intriguing but very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive. It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'Wraith' is terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is next to nothing to recommend and it is a sleeper. Lets start with the sole positive. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky. Unfortunately, it is not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm. Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting. Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both dreadfully done. Not to mention a whole novel's worth of inconsistencies and continuity errors. A lot of 'Wraith' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending makes the film finish on an incomplete and confused whimper. There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative and more odd than creepy, completely failing to show any sense of horror. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, inexperience seems to be all over the film, and the music doesn't really fit. Concluding, near-irredeemably awful. 1/10 Bethany Cox

You've already seen the many better versions of this movie before and there is really no reason to watch this one. I was really not expecting a whole lot going into this movie and I came out with nothing. The teenage daughter's acting was so atrociously bad that it ruined what could have been a cheesy horror flick, and turned it into a completely barely watchable crap-fest. That's not to say that the rest of the movie was much better. The acting, script, and story in general were all half-assed with absolutely no action to be found throughout. I know that it's a B movie but come on. I'll give a point for technically being a movie and one for not being the number one worst movie of all time, but that's the best I can do. Don't waste your time.

The film has some really strange dialogue and very bad acting. The daughter (Catherine Francis) in particular was especially bad. Dreadful! Listing to the characters, I literally sat there wondering what the hell were they thinking! The daughter's character would have been more believable if she was 6 instead of 14. Nothing the characters do or say makes any sense, not to mention the way they simply believe things or jump to conclusions. The film is cliche upon cliche. They've apparently lived in the house for some time, so why is the haunting starting now? When they hear something in the attic, the father says they should wait until morning to check it out (!!). They do decide to go then, and the dad actually lets his daughter tag along with him. Under normal circumstances any father would have insisted she stays put. He then discovers a staircase in the attic he never knew was there. You seriously expect me to believe that, since its right there and they've been living in the house for a good few years!! He then leaves her alone??!! And this idiot daughter just stands there yelling and screaming when she gets scared? A 14 year old girl and she can't simply run back up the stairs??? How is this believable? 'Wraith' was insanely bad. At times I could only shake my head in disbelief watching what crap (pardon my French!) they put on screen. Even Lance Henriksen - who is usually very good - didn't seem to believe in his character much and also came across as bad.

Bad acting and boring story. No action or scared to speak of. It was mainly the female lead doing research to find out what anyone half paying attention realizes halfway through the movie.

I wasn't intending to write a review of this film but after reading so many negative reviews I just had to step up. I turned on this film simply because I like horror and I'm an Ali Hillis fan. I think she's a very talented, appealing, but highly underutilized actress. I believe that most of the reviews that cite "bad acting" are unfounded and seem to be made by reviewers obviously upset (maybe outraged) by the pro-life theme. I (for one) was pleasantly surprised by this theme which is what makes this film unique among a crowded genre. My criticism has more to do with the writing. This is difficult subject matter that would tend to be uncomfortable for many viewers. An established married couple is grappling with the idea of terminating an accidental pregnancy because of their current financial status. That's not easy to watch and doesn't exactly endear the viewer (unless you're a flaming abortionist). Having the unborn child objecting to the prospect of being aborted is a refreshing take on the issue and is worthy of reflection. In this respect this is a very good example of the classic science-fiction genre. This is also a perfect example of "great idea but less than great execution". Definitely worth watching but would have benefitted from better writing that transformed the parent character's mindset to their final decision rather than having it be a predictable surprise.

Holy hell, this movie is like the 'God is not dead' of thriller movies. I wanted to watch a good paranormal movie not some anti-choice propaganda.

The ingredients for a great, even unique movie were here for the most part. I don't want to spoil anything but the source of the haunting was not something I've ever seen before. That and the characters and message made this film worthwhile for me. It also has great cinematography. The writing was poor in places and some of the acting was bad. Particularly the actress who played Lucy. That being said, while most of her lines were unconvincing, she did put in effort and it was obvious. I would like to see her in other roles after some training.

This movie was supposed to be so scary and all the film festivals loved it. Did they watch a different movie? Scary-NO; Good story-NO; should be listed in the thriller/horror genre-NO!! I don't even think of it as an action movie, because there's no action!! The actors had to muddle thru thier characters with no pizzazz, no chemistry, & the teenager's role was so boring....so sorry, dozed off!! I really recomend that instead of watching this "Wraith" movie, that you watch "The Wraith" movie!