Another film watched in preparation for the "How Did This Get Made" podcast. I was expecting it to be awful, particularly when it became apparent that this was another Hallmark/Lifetime movie, and I wasn't disappointed. I'm genuinely shocked to see the positive reviews on here, and the score, which at the time of review was 6.4.
Kate (Jen Lilley) is a Lawyer who's tasked with selling a small town bed and breakfast quickly, over the Christmas period, to avoid incurring tax. She is unable to get the venue valued though, as whomever she sends to the site is scared away by a ghost. Unbelieving in their excuses, she heads to the B&B herself and then meets Daniel (Thomas Beaudoin) the previous owner of the lodging who was murdered over a century ago, he is allowed to return each Christmas, for 12 days, but not to leave to confines of "his" land.
So, yes. This is bad. On both a technical and emotional level. The budget is low, I'm prepared to make allowances in terms of cinematography and scope for that. . but I'm not sure it really excuses the awful performances and bizarre tangents that the plot takes. I did feel there was a degree of chemistry between the leads, that's not to say that they were good in this, just to say I did buy into the relationship a bit. But literally every other character is awful, and if you told me they weren't professional actors, I'd believe you.
It's the story that kills it dead though. A baffling array of nonsense. The rules regarding Daniel's haunting aren't clear and just because the film calls itself out on that, doesn't mean it can get away with it. The film opens with Daniel's murder and it might have made sense for them to investigate what happened across the run time, uncovering clues. Instead they organise a crappy Christmas mixer and then resolve the murder in the last 15 minutes. Then both characters make a staggering impractical decision about their futures and the movie ends.
Horrendous.
Kate (Jen Lilley) is a Lawyer who's tasked with selling a small town bed and breakfast quickly, over the Christmas period, to avoid incurring tax. She is unable to get the venue valued though, as whomever she sends to the site is scared away by a ghost. Unbelieving in their excuses, she heads to the B&B herself and then meets Daniel (Thomas Beaudoin) the previous owner of the lodging who was murdered over a century ago, he is allowed to return each Christmas, for 12 days, but not to leave to confines of "his" land.
So, yes. This is bad. On both a technical and emotional level. The budget is low, I'm prepared to make allowances in terms of cinematography and scope for that. . but I'm not sure it really excuses the awful performances and bizarre tangents that the plot takes. I did feel there was a degree of chemistry between the leads, that's not to say that they were good in this, just to say I did buy into the relationship a bit. But literally every other character is awful, and if you told me they weren't professional actors, I'd believe you.
It's the story that kills it dead though. A baffling array of nonsense. The rules regarding Daniel's haunting aren't clear and just because the film calls itself out on that, doesn't mean it can get away with it. The film opens with Daniel's murder and it might have made sense for them to investigate what happened across the run time, uncovering clues. Instead they organise a crappy Christmas mixer and then resolve the murder in the last 15 minutes. Then both characters make a staggering impractical decision about their futures and the movie ends.
Horrendous.