Tag Archives: haunted house

31 Days of Horror: We Have a Ghost (2023; PG-13; 126 mins.)

Posted on October 14, 2024 | 1 comment

Billed as a supernatural horror comedy, I thought this would be a fun addition to my 31 Days of Horror. And it was, though I’d say it was more drama than horror, a heartfelt story with fun thrown in and great acting from Jahi Di’Allo Winston as Kevin and David Harbour as Ernest the Ghost, along with Jennifer Coolidge and a for-once-not-annoying appearance by Tig Notaro.

When the Presley family-Frank, Melanie, and teens Fulton and Kevin-discovers a great deal on an enormous old house (does this ever bode well?), they snatch it up and move on in. But when Kevin explores the attic, he’s soon “scared by” a bowling shirt-wearing, middle-aged ghost with a comb over named Ernest (at least, that’s the name on the shirt). Except Kevin laughs instead of screams, leaving Ernest befuddled. The two soon begin to communicate (though Ernest can’t talk), and Kevin tries to help him figure out why he’s stuck in the house and who he really is. But big brother Fulton soon uncovers Kevin’s secret friend, and his video of Ernest goes viral (a montage of various social media reactions is hilarious and incredibly on point). When Frank, who has a history of bad business decisions, decides to try to cash in on the notoriety, it draws the attention of not only the world, but a government paranormal scientist (Notaro) as well.

As Kevin and his neighbor Joy work to help Ernest find his answers, and seemingly the entire world works against them, shenanigans ensue in which Ernest gets to have fun being a classic ghost, doing classic ghost antics. But will they be able to solve the mystery before the government catches Ernest to study him? Will Ernest ever find out who he really is and why he’s stuck here as a ghost? And most of all, will Ernest ever find the lasting peace he wants, or is he doomed to walk through walls for eternity?

Top Scare: First Contact
Heartbeats: 1 out of 5
Gore Factor: 1/2 out of 5
Scare Factor: 1 out of 5
Recommended for: 12 or 13 and up

1 Comment

Posted in 31 Days of Horror, Comedy, Entertainment, Halloween, haunting, horror, Horror Movie, Humor, Movies, mystery, Paranormal, Reviews, scary movies, Streaming, Teenagers, Thriller

Tagged Entertainment, Ghosts, Halloween, Haunted, haunted house, Horror, Horror Movies, Netflix, Supernatural, thriller

31 Days of Horror: Don’t Listen (MA; 2020; 97 min.)

Posted on October 23, 2022 | Leave a comment

I wasn’t sure I wanted to give this Spanish movie (dubbed in English) a go since it’s based on the trope of “family moves into house that locals know is haunted; disaster ensues” and I’ve had my fill of that lately. But I’m actually glad I did watch it as it has some great scares, a super-creepy vibe throughout, non-stop action, and a nice twist at the end.

When Daniel, Sara, and Eric move into an enormous country house while Daniel is restoring it, Eric begins exhibiting strange behaviors and hearing voices through walkie-talkies and other electronic devices. So far, ho hum, right? Also, Daniel disovers a fly infestation during renovation. Zzzzzz. But before long, the voices in the house are proving how clever they are, and young Eric drowns in the closed-off pool. Devastated, Sara leaves to stay with her parents while Daniel continues work on the house so they can sell it. But when he hears his son’s voice on his cell phone, he seeks out a writer/paranormal investigator German who agrees to come to the house with his daughter Ruth to check things out. Sara returns as well. As each person works to do their part in the investigation, the spirit and voice of the house is also working to do its part: isolate, imitate, and drive them to their gruesome ends. Yet, Ruth has discovered who the spirit is and maybe, just maybe, how to beat it once and for all.

Top Scare: Several in Bedrooms
Heartbeats: 3 3/4 out of 5
Gore Factor: 3 1/2 out of 5
Scare Factor: 4 out of 5
Recommended for: 17 and up, due to gore and disturbing images

31 Days of Horror: The Haunted (NR; 2018; 75 min.)

Posted on October 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

This is one of those horror movies where I couldn’t quite decide how I felt about it afterwards. At first, I thought, “That was terrible.” But the more I thought about it, the more I decided it did have its merits, if you can manage to not fall asleep during the first half.

Emma is a young caregiver, just arriving in the English countryside to begin her first night shift watching over Arthur, an elderly dementia patient. As he sleeps, she decides to snoop through his closed-up manor house using only the light from her cell phone, and we, the viewer, get to follow along via a shaky hand-held camera. And by follow along, I do mean follow. Into room after room. Through door after door. Inside closet after closet. For thirty+ minutes.

Now, if you haven’t left the premises yet, don’t. The movie finally begins to pick up around this point as creepy haunted house-type things begin to occur and Emma continues snooping instead of keeping an eye on her patient. Several nice jump scares help build tension and suspense, even if the story itself doesn’t, and, finally, the last twenty minutes of this mercifully short film kind of (maybe) make up for the first forty, including a not-entirely-predictable twist at the end.

Top Scare: Arthur’s daughter
Heartbeats: 2 out of 5
Gore Factor: 1 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 2 out of 5
Recommended for: 16 and up

31 Days of Horror Movie: The Resident (2010; R; 91 min)

Posted on October 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

So not purely a horror movie, The Resident is still a suspensful thriller with a good cast. And, okay, the building is kind of old and scary, so that makes it a bit more on the horror-movie side than not. See, horror movies really need a good, creepy building to help them make you squirm. Think the Bates Motel. Think Michael Myers’ childhood home. Think Amityville Horror’s all-seeing-eyes house. The list goes on and on!

Now, back to the movie.

The Resident stars Hilary Swank as Juliet, an ER doc who’s just separated from her husband Jack and is looking for a place to live. She conveniently finds an unbelievable deal on a huge (by NYC and any other city’s standards) apartment in a building owned by Max (hot, hot Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Max lives there with his withering, old grandfather August, while he is renovating the apartment building. He moves in and out of rooms and behind walls to get around the building, and we soon learn he has developed a wee bit of a crush (!!) on Juliet. So much so, in fact, he takes to drugging her wine so he can lick her pinky while she’s knocked out. And use her toothbrush. And, uh, “hang out” in her tub.

Juliet meanwhile decides to give Jack another chance, and begins seeing him. She can’t figure out, though, why she keeps oversleeping each day. So, putting two and nine together, she decides to hire someone to install security cameras in her apartment. Huh? Wonder if I missed something there?

Anyway, as Max’s little crush gets more and more out of hand, and Juliet’s recycling bin for bottles gets more and more full from all the wine she drinks each night, and as August gets creepier and creepier, The Resident builds to a bit of a long, drawn-out conclusion that will nevertheless make you think twice before renting from a hot landlord in NYC!

Top Scare: Bathroom
Heartbeats: 2 1/2 out of 5
Gore Factor: 2 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 3 3/4 out of 5
Recommended for: 17 and up