This was scary. But I am pretty disappointed after seeing this for the first time. All the hype I had heard and read about this being such a scary film, completely let me down. It was a good story, but not scary.
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Sadly scary movies these days seem to draw their scares through shock/gore scenes with a blast of noise and a gruesome image appearing on the screen. Movies like this one allowed you to use your imagination. But imaginations have been dulled and young people often watch a movie while simultaneously fiddling with am electronic device. They think they are multi-tasking and not missing anything, after all the shock value movies still work. But they are wrong and they deny themselves the experience of a good movie.
I have to ask, and not judging but... mobageisevil were you on your cell phone while watching this movie?
Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you there. This movie just isn't that scary. In fact the latter half feels more like a detective story then a horror. I think that a big part of why it isn't scary is that ghost isn't malevolent. At no point did I think it would harm Russel. When it killed the changeling and the chief, we were happy, as justice had been done.
shareI never thought of it as horror so much as a psychic suspense story. It's far more akin to The Fog (the original 70s film) than to a traditional horror movie like Psycho or Friday the 13th.
shareI agree with you. This film didn't really seem like a horror film to me, but more of a mystery/drama with supernatural elements. While it does have it's share of creepy moments such as the ball bouncing down the stairs by itself, Joseph's voice on the recorder, the little girl's nightmare of Joseph trying to come up out of the floor, etc. I think the emphasis is far more on the story and how the mystery slowly unravels than "scares."
shareTo me this movie had the Carrie (original) or Omen vibe and it was very scary. I watched it alone and was totally tense while watching it.
shareI saw it in a theatre in 1980, and I didn't think it was scary then. Seriously, I can't imagine how it would care anyone over the age of five,
shareScared me ... and I think I'm over five years old.
But I will agree that the mystery of the piece was what was really interesting. Putting together the puzzle and disregarding the red herrings (coal cart girl).
Well put together movie.
yeah I watched this after hearing it was the "scariest movie ever made" online. It was not scary to me at all. Most of all it just seemed incredibly dated.
I watched Possession (1981) right after it and that movie was disturbing and frightening, and it did not feel particularly dated (despite only being one year newer)
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Watching it (again) in present day, it indeed is not an actual Horror film, per say. But more an awesome horror-suspense. However, we remain impressed at its original 'pull'. The powers didn't bother with cheap-out effects and fakery. They delivered an authentic creepy drama tale that was based on a true story. And the fire sequence at the end was pretty entailing. When I first watched it during middle school (a science class evaluation project on the paranormal) I remember the class being enthralled by the moving seance and the later uncovering sequences.
Peanutlee33