Disc Reviews

Haunter Blu-ray Review

15th Jul 2014

For Lisa (Abigail Breslin) every day feels the same because it is. Lisa and her family are stuck repeating the last day of their lives, in their home, over and over without realising they’re dead. But now Lisa has “woken up” and is determined to find out what happened to her and her family. Aware of a haunted feeling in “their” house, Lisa investigates and discovers that another family, who are very much alive, are living there. But there is a darker presence in the house too and it’s not long before Lisa begins to realise that everyone in the house, the dead and the living, are in great danger.

Haunter has multiple characters, both dead and alive, inhabiting the same space and while this film puts its own twist on the concept it’s been done before and it’s been done better: The Others, American Horror Story, The Orphanage are a few examples. The problem with Haunter is that plot seems to lose its way and it is not always clear as to what’s going on. Not content to have living and dead characters in the same space, Haunter then has them jumping into each other and moving through different time periods. This could have worked but unfortunately, in this case, it just leads to confusion and, ultimately, boredom. The plot has a lot of interesting ideas and the story is generally engaging, but the film changes pace and it tends to slow almost to a halt at points.

That’s not to say the film doesn’t have its merits. Breslin gives a strong performance and brings credibility to a role that other actresses might not have managed with the same script. Stephen McHattie is sinister and menacing, but boarders on the pantomime occasionally. The production has a distinctly low-fi feel and the special effects are poor to the point that it’s a shame they decided to use them.

Haunter is an ambitious film but it sadly misses the mark. It’s biggest problem is that the plot goes a tad fuzzy towards the end, making it a bit tricky for the audience to know, and subsequently care, what’s happening. It also goes off the boil with a hokey ending that doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the film. While the film has some really good ideas and qualities, there are just too many things wrong with it for it to be any good. Maybe if the production had been a little slicker and the plot had been a little tighter, then it could have been a great film. But as it stands it’s just ok and that’s a shame because it could have been a very smart little film had it gotten lost in itself.