Sally Kirkland stars as Janet Smurl, a devout Catholic housewife who moves into a duplex with her husband, her children, and her husband's parents who are getting on in years. Their first few years go by mostly without incident until Janet starts hearing strange voices and feeling phantom hands molesting her as she tries to sleep at night.
After convincing her husband that there's something very wrong here, she tries to get her church to help, but they can't do anything but bless this house. At her wits end, she hires Ed and Lorraine Warren, a pair of demonologists, to break whatever has cursed their home.
Although it's shot in that typical, flat TV movie way, The Haunted wisely starts things off slowly and with a good degree of subtlety. The first few appearances by the ghosts in the Smurl home are creepy and unnerving, putting the audience on edge. It's small things like a missing hammer or tape dispenser that disappear and end up in strange places or a bizarre stain on the wall that won't allow itself to be covered up by paint.
The film's frights peak with a really terrifying sequence where the Smurl patriarch is attacked by a manifestation while he's alone watching TV. After this moment, the film can't help but go downhill a bit and it ends up just like most other haunted house movies with the saviors must come in and try to exorcise the home of demons and save the family.
The build up is still so excellent that I'd have to recommend this one to fans of ghost/demon movies.
After convincing her husband that there's something very wrong here, she tries to get her church to help, but they can't do anything but bless this house. At her wits end, she hires Ed and Lorraine Warren, a pair of demonologists, to break whatever has cursed their home.
Although it's shot in that typical, flat TV movie way, The Haunted wisely starts things off slowly and with a good degree of subtlety. The first few appearances by the ghosts in the Smurl home are creepy and unnerving, putting the audience on edge. It's small things like a missing hammer or tape dispenser that disappear and end up in strange places or a bizarre stain on the wall that won't allow itself to be covered up by paint.
The film's frights peak with a really terrifying sequence where the Smurl patriarch is attacked by a manifestation while he's alone watching TV. After this moment, the film can't help but go downhill a bit and it ends up just like most other haunted house movies with the saviors must come in and try to exorcise the home of demons and save the family.
The build up is still so excellent that I'd have to recommend this one to fans of ghost/demon movies.