The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008): Dir: Mickey Liddell / Cast: Haley Bennett, Jake Webber, Chace Crawford, Shanna Collins, Marin Hinkle: Hauntingly stupid horror film about paranoia. It is also among countless films just like it that are released in the hundreds and are all about as bad as this one. It opens with a father killing his daughter before her 18th birthday in a scene that makes no sense. Now Hartley again faces her 18th closing in at a new school but fears that her mother will escape an asylum. Director Mickey Liddell is backed with visual appeal but the screenplay is reprehensible garbage that needs more than a decent director to improve its chances of being anything other than sh*t. Its portrayal of Christians is another morbid attack but that seems to be the only way the industry can relate. Haley Bennett plays Hartley, headaches and all. Perhaps an aspirin or even a swift kick in the ass might serve Molly well but alas, she is destine to be a tortured soul and will bring poor viewers in with her. Others wasting time are Jake Webber, Chace Crawford and Shanna Collins. Perhaps they saw this as an opportunity but whether this leads to better employment will be the things of luck. Although well made visually, this film is pointless and about as frightening as an episode of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Molly will likely be haunted by this mindless junk for years. Score: 3 / 10

"The Haunting of Molly Hartley" was a fairly mediocre horror / thriller movie, without any major rush of thrills or adrenaline.The story told in the movie is about Molly Hartley (played by Haley Bennett) who moves to a new town with her father (played by Jake Weber). However, Molly can't escape the dread of her past, where her mother (played by Marin Hinkle) tried to kill her. Now locked up in a mental institute, the mother is under care and supervision, but Molly keeps seeing her and hearing her wherever she goes. There is a darkness lurking in Molly's past, and that darkness is now closing in on her.Essentially the storyline was fairly good, it wasn't groundbreaking or jawdropping in any way, but it was entertaining enough. The storyline was predictable, yes, but still director Mickey Liddell managed to make the movie work out well enough.As for the people playing the various roles and characters in the movie, well they were doing good jobs. Though, sadly so, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary here. That being said, I am not inclining that it was bad, not at all.For a thriller / horror movie, then "The Haunting of Molly Hartley" was quite devoid of scares and creepy moments. And the title was actually what lured me in, as I thought it was going to be a ghost movie - which it isn't! So don't get suckered in by that pretense.The movie was nicely paced and had a good flow to it, right up to the very end, where it just shattered into countless pieces. The ending of the movie was really, and I emphasize heavily on really, ludicrous. It was really a horrible way to end an otherwise adequate movie. I am not going to say what it is, it just has to be experienced and seen.

Judging by the current rating of 3.8 I was expecting this to be awful however it was actually entertaining and although it wasn't anything new it was nowhere near the worst film I've ever seen. It does make me wonder exactly what people expect when watching films like this. The acting was pretty good for one of these types of films with Haley Bennett putting in a good performance in the lead role and Shanna Collins putting in good support. It's not a scary film and maybe the lack of many frights and gore put off many people. Although this is a film more about the story than the gore there are a few creepy moments and a less than predictable last 15 minutes. This is far better than the rating suggests and worth watching if your at a loose end.

(Please note, this review was based off a viewing years ago, however the experience has left scars burned into my mind like a chemical burn, I want to share my pain with you.) the beginning sets up what feels to be some rather solid suspense- a father tries to (successfully and very unwillingly) murder his daughter. i found it quite unnerving, why would something like this happen for what reasons? not bad but still lacking something.However the rest of the film fails to deliver the suspense that builds up in the first 10 minutes or so, as not only does the film force feed the viewer pretentious religious themes, all the so-called scares are cheap shocks, no foreboding, no sense of lingering paranoia, none. drama? yes plenty. Horror? no, just scares, cheap scares.Horror in essence is the fear coming off of the experience of something, this was not a horrifying movie, it was bland, cheap and pretentious. The essence of the cheapness and pretentiousness really shows itself in the film's climax- Molly was resurrected by a servant of the devil, and thus owes the devil her soul on her 18th birthday. (I'm pretty sure it was her 18th birthday, 6+6+6 = 18), She tries to do what her mother failed to do earlier in the movie- kill herself. She fails, her father is sent to a psych ward and molly "accepts herself for her destiny" or whatever she said before the "Ironic happy ending", which insultingly looked more like it was for a cheap Disney channel teen movie rather than a horror film, given the production of the movie, honestly I'm not surprised.The movie fits Merriam-Webster's definitions of Haunting: To visit often, to continually seek the company of, to have a disquieting or harmful effect on. I can't help but look for the silver lining that the title certainly lives up to it's name on a technical level. However in the spirit of horror movies, it takes a variety orifices encrusted in toxic fecal matter, and throws bleach all over it, making the bloody mess looking and smelling worse than it already is.I sincerely apologize for the mental image i just gave you, but i really cannot otherwise summarize what this movie does to the horror genre.