Strong and Moving!

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Brought on-board a secret military base, a woman's attempts to investigate their supposed capture of a supernatural entity causes chaos on the base when it's accidentally released and goes on the rampage, forcing her to try to stop it.This turned out to be quite a dreadful and really uninteresting effort without a lot really going for it. One of the only positives to this is the frankly original plot line concerning the capture of such an entity and what means is being done to control and contain it. Being able to remain controlled in a small enclosure with electronic impulses makes for a rather unique touch and allows this a pretty original touch that doesn't really get used all that often yet here makes some sense as the military would be one of the few places in the world where access to such material isn't out of the ordinary and seems pretty plausible throughout here. As well, the final half here tends to focus on the body-hopping means that the ghost employs to seek out revenge on the base for it's imprisonment and that leads to some mildly-tense sequences where it's in someone unexpectedly causing them to engage in all the horrific ideas and acts quite nicely. However, there's a lot really wrong here with the fact that this one tends to use a pretty hackneyed and cliché motive of the powers-that-be being unwilling to provide much in the way of explanations that would help this one be a little more understandable. Considering this is par for the course from the military, that's not all that out of the realms of realism where disinformation and withholding is pretty much par for the course in their history but here it just leads to endless scenes of her trying to actually do her job that she was specifically called there for yet keeps coming up with the bull-headed and refusal tactics from the military brass there which really begs the question of why she would want to stay there when what she's seen and been exposed to from their attitudes toward her would seem to really question why it was included in the first place. As well, this tends to really affect the pace of this with numerous scenes that go nowhere due to their refusal as well as tends to cause this to feel like a drag with hardly anything happening which is quite a common trait in many of the recent British efforts so this is no exception. Finally, the low-budget on display throughout this tends to cause the attacks to come off as quite lame and really ridiculous with hardly any real effort put into them, the special effects aren't that great and overall the film's centerpiece scenes are pushed so far into the back-half of the film it's too little too late as well as being plagued by ineffectiveness. These hold this back and really harm it overall.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Fresh faced Hayley Sands arrives at the Stormhouse thinking she's got a ghost to deal with - but before long, it's the people that prove to be problem.Military personnel, long exposed to the haunting influence of a trapped paranormal entity have become twitchy, paranoid about the security of their project and indifferent about hiding an amoral attitude towards human life.These weaknesses manifest as glorious opportunities for the ghost to exploit, which it does to great effect.If you're prepared to accept a production on a limited budget, then there are some great things in this film. We have the the horror of what people can do to one another - well set up by the curious hole in the cage. We have a conflict in morality over the Guantanamo style treatment of a terrorist. We have betrayal of trust & the dysmorphic sense of sense of self importance brought on by isolation. The story plays a great slight of hand with the audience when all hell breaks loose & neatly reveals how the entity was first captured on the way out.As for the thing itself. I enjoyed its playful nature. It made for malevolence from a place of innocence. Could it have been better? Budget aside (which isn't everything) I wanted a bit more cohesion in places. More lightweight banter from the resident to assist with character depth - although it's not bereft. I also felt that the general darkness of the Stormhouse made it harder for the locations to assist in taking you through the story. i.e. - we needed some visual separation to help frame the different scenes as we repaint the story in our memory.So in the end, I appreciated the ideas here that are so lacking in many other horrors.

I can see what the points are from the other reviewers. The movie is definitely flawed in places. For instance, the story could have been clearer and it could have looked more interesting. At times its a little slow and there are some very wooden performances mainly from the soldiers and the white haired guy who comes in later. I've gotta say though, that I found it really atmospheric. I felt tense, the whole way through the movie. The jumps are great and lets face it, they are most important aspect of a horror! Some of the effects were a tiny bit on the weak side. I thought Grant Masters was really good, as was Grahame Fox. Grahame Fox was very scary in places. Both very believable characters. I also liked Martin Delaney in it. As the only other American in the film, I guess you just wanted to see more of him, he had a really interesting character I thought. I felt all of these guys were really well written in places and performed well too. I can't remember his name but the white haired actor is terrible! Katie Flynn and Patrick Flynn were pretty solid, although at times didn't suit the movie. I can't really explain why. The rest of the soldiers were pretty poor too.Overall there are some things that let this movie down for sure but I did like a lot about it. It felt rustic and real and the idea is great, just poorly executed.

A couple of the average reviews here, and also the odd review I've seen elsewhere, just go to show that everything's subjective, because I absolutely loved this movie when I saw it at the Edinburgh Festival where it premiered last year.I don't want to spoiler anything, as there are some nice twists and turns along the way (and at least one killer in the final act!) and by now you'll be familiar with the central idea. New York psychic girl (played by Katherine Flynn - although weirdly there are currently a Katherine and a Katie FLynn in the IMDb credits!) is brought to a top- secret military base to speak to a caged ghost. She gets along with it fine and they all live happily after... ahem! Maybe not... :)Sure, the sound is a bit dodgy in places - maybe a result of this being a reportedly low-budget film. But for me, there was nothing low budget about the atmosphere or the super-creepy goings-on. Not to mention the occasional outburst of ultra-violence (especially one scene - you'll know when you see it!). Killer stuff. Really loved Grant Masters as the Major - a well-rounded, low-key villain, never OTT, but really intimidating in a different way.Like films such as Session 9 or Insidious before it, Stormhouse rose up in my brain when I woke up in the middle of the night. Brrr! It's actually pretty disturbing, it's stayed with me - and that's rare in a horror film. I highly recommend that, if you're open to indie films which can't afford millions of super-flashy FX (although there are plenty of good ones here!), you enter the Stormhouse. Just don't expect to leave!