- Directed by Steven Soderbergh
- Written by David Koepp
- Stars Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 24 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfSNmYhV8Xc
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is filmed in an interesting way with lots of swooping around like we’re the POV from a ghost, and there are a low number of hard cuts – instead going with long continuous shots. The horror simmers in the background while family drama and bad people things are at the front. We both kind of liked it but didn’t love it.
Spoilery Synopsis
We walk through a big, empty, dark house. Credits roll.
In the daytime, a woman rushes in and gets ready for a meeting. She’s a Realtor, and she’s showing the house to Rebekah, Chris, Tyler, and Chloe. The house has just gone on the market.
The painters arrive to work, but one of them refuses to go into one of the rooms. Soon, the family is all moved in. Not long after, we see that Rebekah may have done some shady business dealings, and she may face some repercussions. Chris worries about his own involvement in whatever she’s done; he’s thinking of separating from Rebekah.
Chloe, on the other hand, is still grieving the death of her friend Nadia, who died suddenly. She soon senses someone in the room with her. The next day, the ghost picks up all her schoolbooks and puts them away for her. Chloe notices that right away.
Chris and Rebekah talk about getting help for Chloe, who isn’t over Nadia’s death yet. Chris wants to get her a therapist, but Rebekah says it’ll just take time.
Tyler brings Ryan home to meet Chloe, and the two are soon a couple. They talk about Nadia; he knew her too. It was bad drugs, Chloe thinks. She also thinks Nadia’s spirit is in the house with them. As soon they start to make out, the shelf in the closet breaks down, interrupting things.
At dinner, Chloe asks the others about feeling a “presence” in the house. Tyler gets nasty with her, calling her an attention-seeker. Everyone argues. Chris mentions that Chloe knew both girls who died– there were two who died from the bad drugs.
Even Chris thinks Tyler is being a jerk. When Tyler brags about posting a bad photo of a girl from school on the Internet, the ghost wrecks his bedroom, and they all see it. Chloe swears it’s Nadia.
Chris calls in Carl and Lisa, a couple of psychics, who stop by on their lunch break. Lisa says “It’s suffering, just like you are, Chloe.” The presence is there for a reason, but Lisa can’t tell what that is. Tyler and Rebekah soon decide that Lisa’s a fake, but Chloe is all in on what she said.
Ryan comes over and spikes Chloe’s drink as the ghost watches. The table starts to vibrate, and her drink falls on the floor. She invites him to stay over on the weekend while her parents will be away.
Lisa comes back, and says she had a dream about a “window that doesn’t open” and that the ghost is there to prevent something bad from happening.
Chris and Rebekah talk vaguely about their legal issues, but we still don’t know what the trouble is. They may talk to a lawyer while they’re on their trip. They leave.
Ryan comes over and Tyler lets him in. He drugs Tyler and knocks him right out before preparing a similar drink for Chloe.
Chloe decides she doesn’t want to go through with it with Ryan. “I’m not like… stable.” She tells him no, but then drinks her spiked OJ.
As she passes out, he goes on and on about how she only gets what she wants, and she wants all this. Ryan basically admits killing Nadia and the other girl. He smothers her off-and-on with some plastic wrap. The ghost sees all this and tries to help– it goes downstairs and wakes up Tyler. He runs upstairs, tackles Ryan, and they both go out the upstairs bedroom window which seems to instantly kill them both.
The house is empty again, the family is moving out. Rebekah looks in the old mirror and sees Tyler in there. “He came back to see me!” She cries and everyone is sad.
Brian’s Commentary
We get lots of long, lingering shots, apparently from the ghost’s point of view as it moves from room to room inside the house. It’s a pretty good house, and we spend the entirety of the film wandering around inside watching the humans inside. It’s like a depressing version of “The Sims.”
It’s a believable yet dysfunctional family. It’s a very slow moving, talky film, with very little action. I had assumed that the parents were covering up the fact that Tyler had killed those girls but that wasn’t the case at all. We never actually find out what the family’s legal issue is about.
It’s… OK. Not great.
Kevin’s Commentary
I did like the POV from a ghostly viewpoint. And it did have some entertaining moments. The cast puts in some realistic and believable performances, notable for relatively inexperienced Callina Liang and newcomer Eddy Maday keeping up as the teenage kids with their much more experienced parent actors. But I thought the horror was a bit too low key with the family drama front and center. I liked it more than disliked it, six out of ten.
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