Rent The Haunted (2018)

Worst Film Ever - The Haunted review by AH

This is the worse low budget film I have ever seen, please do not waste you time on this rubbish!

This is the worse low budget film I have ever seen, please do not waste you time on this rubbish!

This is the worse low budget film I have ever seen, please do not waste you time on this rubbish!

This is the worse low budget film I have ever seen, please do not waste you time on this rubbish!

This is the worse low budget film I have ever seen, please do not waste you time on this rubbish!

Magnificent, slow-moving horror - mild spoilers follow - The Haunted review by NP

Making a horror film based on real-life tragedies is a tricky manoeuvre - the subject of this slow-burning, low-key chiller is Arthur, played by Bayly. Arthur suffers from Alzheimer's, although the condition is woefully under-diagnosed. As such, his new live-in nurse Emily (Sophie Stevens) has her work cut out for her, especially when the erratic nature of events drifts into the supernatural.

Nothing happens quickly, which won't sit well with some. Don't expect a multi-million pounds Hollywood-style spectacle here - indeed, such a style would rob 'The Haunted' of its dread and dark closeness, and poor Emma's experience wouldn't be anywhere near as effective. Only the finale picks up speed, and that is to its detriment. A host of information assails the viewer, which is not in keeping with the carefully layered storyline before it. This is a shame, but such rashness doesn't undo the effective scares that make up the majority of this film's running time. My score is 9 out of 10.

Confused and Confusing British Horror Film - The Haunted review by PV

Perhaps the biggest rule on all story-telling is ensuring the reader/viewer/listener knows what is going on - not everything and certainly not all at once. Reveals are needed later. BUT some clarity is called for, not the confused and confusing third act of this.

I mean, I read the review which said look the ending up online, so I did - and I have to say it did not OCCUR to me that that was the plot and 'reveal'. Not good.

Prior to that this is well done - creepy, creaking haunted house plot basically - a horror film with added #metoo perhaps.

I liked the dementia carer theme which was original. The other so-called twists etc were definitely not.

Made me jump at one point and that gets a star. First act and second worth watching. The ending? Oh dear...

And I do get so sick and tired of any film with child abuse plots - that palled after the first 3000 of em. And these plots always portray older white men as the abusers which is not only racist and sexist, but ageist. Most of all though it is tiresome and lazy.

A great shame it all goes wrong in the third act. I'd have rewritten the script, to be honest, all that part. Forgotten the supposed big reveal surprise which I did not get anyway, and...but...well. The writer/director comes from a background of Waterloo Road, so maybe that is why it is how it is. No good male character in this film at all. Like most UK TV drama these days then eh, esp on the BBC...

2 stars, one for the jump.