MovieChat Forums > The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008) Discussion > Wow (Spoilers)

Wow (Spoilers)

posted 15 years ago by fastball_fan_85
20 replies | jump to latest

It took 15 minutes for me to realize that I had just wasted $6.50, and an hour and a half of my life. Are these film makers even trying nowadays? I think I've seen this movie a dozen times but with just different titles.

Things that made the movie suck:
1. The casting was awful. - CW acting isn't real acting. Where were those hideous ghoulish people that every high school has? Was this a school for models?
2. The lack of actual haunting - If you're not going to have a ghost / demon in a movie the cool thing to do is warn us before we give over our money. The Trailer was very misleading.
3. The stereotypical teenagers
Ex. She must be the school rebel because she has holes in her stockings and her school uniform is in disarray.
4. The stereotypical new kid in school with a dark past - self-explanatory
5. The Ending - I'm pretty sure they the script said "just wing it" and by god that's what they did. And what was with the Missing poster? That had to be the cheesiest thing in the whole movie.

Things that made the movie good:
1. Still looking for one.

Overplayed horror shots from this movie:

The overhead driving down a winding road shot. - I'm so sick of this shot in these films. Just because Kubrick did it in The Shining doesn't mean every horror / thriller film needs it. It's also in the trailer for The Uninvited. Once you notice it it's going to drive you crazy.

The looking in the mirror shot - find a new way to build the suspense.

Animal jump suspense break - Yeah, this isn't done in every "scary" movie.

[–] liquid_stone14 15 years ago

The overhead driving down a winding road shot (...) Once you notice it it's going to drive you crazy.

Amen.

The looking in the mirror shot - find a new way to build the suspense.

Daaaamn right.

Animal jump suspense break - Yeah, this isn't done in every "scary" movie.

Well, you see, they had to choose between 'cat out of the closet' or 'dog on a fence'.

Other ones :

1- (in the trailer) Lead character running in a hallway, the camera pans down on them as they run until they are framed from above. They did that in Pulse, too, and it was just as gratuitously stylish.

2- The Mysteriously Aggressive Dumbass Queen Bee© always backed up by her two girlfriends in the V-position. Blargh.

3- That horrible, horrible scene... WELL IT WAS JUST A DREAM! TAKE THAT, CREDIBILITY!

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Dyslexic Officially May Since 1994!

http://www.rottentomatoes.com

[–] ayf_1983 15 years ago

Lol at the Queen Bee comment. Also the Queen Bee is almost always a blonde.

[–] liquid_stone14 15 years ago

Also, to the original poster... the first type of shot I mentionned is ALSO used in The Uninvited trailer... when she runs out of the hospital you can see a perfect example of that type of shot.

uuuuuggghhhh.

also, yes, they are usually always blondes.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Dyslexic Officially May Since 1994!

http://www.rottentomatoes.com

[–] fastball_fan_85 15 years ago

Liquid,
That running down a hallway shot is ridiculously overused. I also forgot about the sit up in your bed after a nightmare shot. I think we're qualified to write the sequel if you're up for it.

[–] Jack_Scagnetti 15 years ago

Excellent points.
I couldn't have flamed the movie any better without using swears.

A Halloween version of O.C.

I Mallory Knox

[–] drummers_rock_13 15 years ago

So Can anyone explain to me, 1. HOW that christan girl was "missing?" do you not think SOMEONE would have noticed a dead floating girl in a pool of red water?... THat baffled me, also, at the end, WHAT HAPPEND?
IM SO CONFUSED, all of a sudden she's stabbing herself, then, the next her dads in a mental hopspital, then she's validictorian, next she's passed by that devil girl and is all, see you soon, WTF? what does it mean!? HELP PLEASE!

[–] LegendaryTrainer 15 years ago

shes satbbing herself but it doesnt kill her cuz shes turned 18 so yeah. but her dad in the hospital cuz she turned him in and said like all the stabbing and stuff was in his head to make him seem crazy. she was valedictorian because she obviously got good grades. so yeah.

[–] enigmawriter-1 15 years ago

I believe the overhead driving down a winding road shot for The Shining had meaning to it. Every time I watch that sequence I sense that there is something more to it, especially when the titles roll.

Most movies now a days don't have meaning anymore. They just slap it together and call it a movie. I guess these filmmakers took the meaning, "If you stick *beep* on a wall and call it art...it must be art" You get what I mean.

[–] fastball_fan_85 15 years ago

enigmawriter,
I agree that the use of the over the head road shot in The Shining was well done and had a lot of meaning to it. However, the writers / directors of todays horror / suspense films put it in at the most inopportune time (ex. on the way to school, or to a social event). It just seems that these film makers today are trying to be Kubrick, but not even he could have made this pile of crap watchable.

[–] enigmawriter-1 15 years ago

Very true. I just hope horror movies start getting better. For instance, instead of startling music making us jump out of our seats just to make a dull scene in a dull horror movie "seam" frightening, I hope they "show" us a frightful scene to make us jump out of our seats. You know, like good horror movies.

[–] fastball_fan_85 15 years ago

Back in the late 70's and early 80's there were quite a few good horror directors with Cunningham, Craven, and Carpenter but now I would venture a guess that Rob Zombie is the only director today that can make a decent horror film.

[–] enigmawriter-1 15 years ago

There is no name in horror anymore. The recognizable names like you've mentioned. When you say Craven, you immediately think of A Nightmare On Elm Street. Carpenter, you think of Halloween or The Thing.

I do see a future of good horror movies, the way they were supposed to be made. I just hope it's soon.

[–] fastball_fan_85 15 years ago

I pray that the Michael Bay produced Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street wont disappoint as much as his two swings at the Texas Chainsaw series.....but deep down I know they will, after all it has Michael Bay in the mix. I heard that Rob Zombie is making Halloween 2, that puts him with Rick Rosenthal as the only two directors to make two Halloween films.....lets hope Rob's second is better than Rick's second (Halloween Resurrection).

What horror films are you fan of?

[–] enigmawriter-1 15 years ago

I hear ya on that. Here is a list of the horror movies I'm in to. Just a short list because there are so many.

ALIEN
ALIENS
THE THING REMAKE
THE SHINING
THE EXORCIST
HALLOWEEN
FRIDAY THE 13TH, a few of the series
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, a few of the series
SCANNERS
VIDEODROME
POLTERGEIST
THE FLY REMAKE
FRANKENSTEIN
THE WOLF MAN
THE BLOB, original and remake
THEM!
THE ORPHANAGE
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, original and remake
DAWN OF THE DEAD, original - also like remake
DAY OF THE DEAD
LAND OF THE DEAD, yes, I liked it!
PRINCE OF DARKNESS
PREDATOR
I can't think of any more. They're there somewhere.

[–] fastball_fan_85 15 years ago

Those are some solid pics. I loved Land of the Dead too, even with the political undertones. I think all the Of The Dead series is pretty great...not like some horror franchises today. I just think George Romero knows his business when it comes to zombies.

The thing about The Haunting of Molly Hartley is that I was expecting a ghost / demon movie, and having not seen a good one in many years....(I'm hard pressed to think of the last good one let alone great one)...I was looking forward to this. I guess I should have done my homework about the filmmakers and cast because I tend to stray away from anything CW/WB ex. The Boogyman (2005) with 7th Heaven alum Barry Watson.

[–] alesisqs61 15 years ago

Pretty watchable....but pretty terrible.

I'm going to give the missing poster at the end a bit of though. She was being monitored by the "fraternity of evil" and they covered it up.

That's a theory.

However the ended is just as lame as it gets. It's setting up a much needed part 2....if there is not a part 2, it's total garbage because that itself is not an ending. Nothing about her "darkness" was explained, revealed or seen in the movie except when she's trying to protect herself from others.

EPIC FAIL on so many levels.

We know nothing about the changed Molly Hartley which is pretty much the entire story. LAME. Does it get much worse?

Without a part 2....man.....really a waste of time and space.

http://www.vimeo.com/1986276

all is true...however...
i feel the camera angles and the editing was well done...
direction-sucked
lighting-sucked
casting-sucked
acting-screw you...
wasted my life...
and that group of girls that is always there in any scary movie audience
would not shut the *beep* up!
it just added to my annoyance.

How come every word you say is either *beep* *beep* or *beep*?

[–] yomtvzach89 15 years ago

hey guys we cant forget the cliche horror movie bit where u see something scary across the street and a truck drives by and its gone lol so lame seeing that now its ridicuously overdone

Jesse McCartney,Chad Micheal Murray, and Me...Threesome for Life

[–] fastball_fan_85 15 years ago

You're right, I missed that one. How many horror movie cliches are in this awful movie?

[–] fastball_fan_85 10 years ago

Well, it's been 5 years since I saw this movie and wrote this post. When I think back on the last 5 years, this movie still makes me mad.

I also miss paying $6.50 to see a movie.