Stuck with writers' block during his new play, a writer takes his daughter to a remote castle on the coast to help with a new project, but his caretaker assistant holding him to his promise to finish the script as well as the secrets of the castles ancient past force everyone to confront the supernatural threats to get away alive.
This was a decent enough if slightly flawed genre effort. When this one works is mainly due to the atmosphere present throughout here which brings about shades and tones of the classic Gothic stories of the past. Featuring the usual requirements of the situation with the ragged stone walls, endless corridors, eerie wind blowing through the hallways and the need for an endless array of candles to light the way through the castle, this one manages to evoke a chilling feel that's at times outright chilling. It's the sort of ambiance that brings about the feeling that someone or something is lurking within the other side of the wall or around the next bend and helps to enhance the mood and tone quite readily throughout here. When it's all enhanced by the backstory to the castle her girlfriends reveal that adds a properly chilling turn on everything and the numerous slow shots of someone going through the building, this one feels quite the impressive effort. With this setup working, the slow-burn descent offers quite a lot of chilling aspects. The idea of the family still haunting the castle walls and causing all the damage within by turning her into a completely different person much as he does later on after performing the same ritual is a great way to build a tense atmosphere. The later series of supernatural hauntings here aren't that bad, as the exaggerated mannerisms and threatening with the way these continually build throughout the finale as things become much direr. With strange disappearances, threatening actions and a thrilling race to uncover the truth behind the dark secrets of the past all combine to make for a somewhat rousing and thrilling time with how it all comes together. These here give this one quite a lot to like even though there are some issues with this one. One of its main problems is the rather disjointed storyline that keeps switching back-and-forth between characters without much explanation. Given that the main focus is never entirely on either the father/daughter living in the castle or the neighbors living next door as they never really interact with each other only for a few quick remarks in terms of interaction that there's a rather odd shift in the narrative once it does this with very little actual purpose. The one we get isn't enough of an answer and it seems to shift back-and-forth to these people in ways that can make characters disappear from the film for long stretches of time. The other factor here is the distressingly slow-burn pace that can easily be seen as too slow to make a difference as the lack of constant scare attempts, lethargic tempo and low-key intensity from everyone involved can be a slough to get through. These factors are what hold this one back the most.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.
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