Secrets in the Walls
November. 24,2010A single mom and her two daughters move from their cramped Detroit apartment to a large house in the suburbs, but scratching, cries and shadows haunt their new home.
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Reviews
Good concept, poorly executed.
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
I deserve some type of award or congratulations for watching the entirety of this putrid film dubbed a scary movie. If this was a scary movie it was definitely a scary movie for kids because it didn't even nudge the spook-o-meter.What is clear is that, although I watched this on Netflix, this was a made-for-T.V. flick complete with television cinematography, a weak script and fades to black at teaser moments. This sanitized movie with squeaky clean language, bland characters and even blander dialog was like a Disney Channel Halloween special. "Secrets in the Walls" could've been rated G.This production offered nothing by way of originality, drama, intensity or simple interest. Even the music defied what the movie was trying to achieve... Or what was this movie trying to achieve?
A simple horror film - nothing special during any part of it really. If it had released in theaters it probably would not've run.Story: A family of 3 move into an ancient house when it is offered very cheap, only to find something strange going on inside it.Storyline, Acting, camera work, thrills or horror - all are OK and nothing is too remarkable. I could not find any fault in anything with regards to the way it is made.There is no vulgarity and it is not an adult horror film. Suited for family watch.But it has nothing unique to offer really...same old concept as mentioned above. It's just a budget film.
I really have no idea what got me into watching lifetime movies when I'm a 19 year old boy who should enjoy partying and going out but after watching this movie i sort of liked it.The basic plot is really nothing i haven't seen before, the only thing different i really found intriguing was that the girl (Greta) was boarded up inside the house ALIVE. Now that i rarely see in a ghost movie which is i guess the reason why i watched this movie. The 3 woman of the story especially Jeri Ryan,and Kay Panabaker play their roles wonderfully and i could watch this movie again knowing full well i'd be scared again. Secrets in the Walls is nothing new to me and yet i still felt like i watched an accomplished film.
(There are spoilers throughout this review) Well I caught this made-for-TV movie on Lifetime last night. I was flipping channels and happened to catch it right at the beginning, and once I saw Jeri Ryan was the star I decided to watch it just for a while -- but wound up watching the whole thing -- so I suppose that's some kind of positive note. The first 20 minutes are a tad slow and you're not exactly sure what's happening, that is until a scary gnarly hand appears behind an ornate air vent, like whatever it is wants to get out. Yikes! Ah ha! So THAT was the "secret" behind the wall...." and it lured me in. :-) Anyway, it continues from there as your usual haunting / ghost story / scary old house story: Lots of mysterious eerie things happen, ghostly beings are seen in the windows, one person realizes something's wrong but no one believes her until it's too late, the new owners do research at the library of the house's strange history, then the inevitable 'possession' occurs, then a medium tries to 'rid' the house of the spirit, then the final big showdown between ghost and humans, yada yada yada. The same story we've seen dozens of times, only this one is a low-budget made-for-TV movie, so everything seems to be scaled-down a tad and stretched out to make a reasonable running time.The good: Jeri Ryan and the girls, especially Molly, are good and believable actresses. The interior of the house and the basement are scary so there's good set design and cinematography (especially that foggy old neighborhood). And when Jeri's brother finally discovers "the secret behind the walls", it's actually pretty scary.The bad: First of all, there is no way -- no matter how deeply discounted a house is -- that a single mom, having been employed for just 1 day with what looks like an hourly job, and after being out of the workplace for 5 years, will qualify to buy a house of that size in that neighborhood. And after all the scary lead-up incidents, it does go kind of downhill once 'the possession' starts, and by that I mean it's not as scary and loses a little credibility. When Lizzie has her accident on the stairs and Jeri Ryan does CPR for some reason, my first concern was that Lizzie risked being paralyzed, not just knocked out. There's also a scene where Jeri finally hears the music box and it wakes her up -- but WHO was that person in the bed next to her???? And toward the end, Jeri confronts and gets mad at the real estate lady (twice), as though she were a villain and the cause of all Jeri's problems. I realize real estate people will do and say ANYTHING to sell a house and I'm sure that's what the writers intended, but I didn't think she did anything wrong - like she said, she was simply hired by the out-of-state new owners to sell the house and she didn't know it was haunted.5 out of 10.