Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Nov 18, 2005 23:49:13 GMT -5
Plot:Five young students move into an empty old mansion. Strange things start to occur when one of them succeeds in getting an old Russian Spirit Clock working. They all begin to see things around the house such as shadows of torches,and an angry mob nailing a man to the floor. As things get increasingly more nightmarish,it soon becomes a race against time for the five youngsters to escape the house before they are trapped inside with the spirits forever.
Cast:
Billie Piper
Luke Mably
Emma Catherwood
Sam Troughton
Alsou
My Thoughts:Inventive ghost movie.
Review:Theres not much else filmmakers can do these days with the supernatural subgenre when it comes to horror movies.We've seen ghosts posess people tons of times,thats been done to death.We've seen them run amok inside glass houses (13 ghosts),torment children,and trap people inside abandoned insane asylums (house on haunted hill).They've been taken everywhere from cruise ships (ghost ship),to even inside our televisions (The Ring).Going into "Spirit Trap" I was expecting another run of the mill haunted house movie.Oh don't get me wrong "Spirit Trap" had the usual paranoia and ghostly scenarios that most other haunted house movies have in spades,but it tried something new with the overall story which managed to keep the film from falling into that *we've seen it all before* zone...atleast too much."Spirit Trap" puts five young college students Jenny, (Billie Piper), Tom (Luke Mably), Adele (Emma Catherwood),Nick (Sam Troughton),and Tina (Alsou) whos already at the house once the others arrive,into an old victorian like mansion.From the moment they enter the spooky old mansion you know something isn't right with the place.But when you're a college student,finding adequate housing can be a real bitch,and the opportunity to live in a huge mansion only come along once in a lifetime.The opening scene where a drifter gets offed by a falling piece of steel roof fixture pretty much suggests that the place is damned or something along those lines.But "Spirit Trap" makes sure early on to set itself apart from other films of the same breed by introducing us to a spirit clock.Jenny informs the others that the mystery clock is supposed to be a bridge between the spirit world and the world of the living.An interesting horror movie prop indeed,even if it is underused in this particular film.The script was obviously written to make Pipers character Jenny the most interesting character in the film but despite her characters mysterious past with her mom who had a natural connection to the spirit world,and the pendant she wears around her neck which when grasped by her enables her to recieve flashbacks of the houses bloody history,Jenny comes off more as whiny and needy rather than an interesting character with any real backbone.Actually the most interesting character in the film is Adele who is involved with her drug dealer boyfriend Tom.It isn't long before someone accidentally activates the spirit clock which begins counting down...but to what exactly? "Spirit Trap" relies on it's mystery side of the script as much as it does it's ghost story aspects.We see tons of flashback scenes which suggest that something bad happened to the previous owners of the house and it happened ages ago,the 1900s to be exact.But the film really plays up the mystery aspect with some creepy scenes involving an ouija board,and a mysterious locked door that seems to hide something bad behind it.Theres also some heavy intrigue involving the four young people living in the house,one of which may have murdered his girlfriends best friend via a drug overdose.While Jenny continues to have premonitions that bring her and Nick closer,Adele is haunted by the ghost of her dead friend which causes her and Toms relationship to slowly dissolve,and then theres the mysterious Tina who no one seems to really notice but theres a reason for that which is one of the films big reveals.With so much happening at the same time in the film on the supernatural side and character side,"Spirit Trap" manages to avoid a subplot pileup at the end by having everything unfold smoothly and using the mysterious spirit clock as a centerpiece in the films finale wrapping things up nicely.
Pros:Emma Catherwood gives a great performance as the mysterious Adele.Great storytelling as the films finale can be traced back to events which took place at the very beginning.This is a rareity as the story in most horror movies becomes broken and muddled in the middle of the film and is totally thrown out by the end.A few good twists are tossed in as the movie wraps up which connect perfectly with the rest of the story and don't seem added for shock value.
Cons:I wish we could've learned more about the mysterious spirit clock and it's origins.
Overall:Not exactly a total ghost movie.More of a supernatural horror/mystery/thriller.A great B movie hybrid that plays up all of it's genres pieces nicely resulting in a satisfactory conclusion.