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The Witch in the Window, 2018
Simon (Alex Draper) and his son Finn (Charlie Tacker) arrive in a small town with the intention of restoring an old house. Things in their family aren’t going too well, and Simon is fixated on the renovation as the means of righting the ship. But this plan hits a major snag when it becomes clear that the house is possessed by the angry spirit of a former owner, Lydia (Carol Stanzione), and the more they fix up the house, the stronger she gets.
Uneven as a whole, this supernatural horror benefits from solid actor chemistry and some effectively chilling moments.
It’s especially common with movies in the horror or sci-fi genre to get the sense that a writer started with a really compelling hook or idea, but then just wasn’t sure how to carry things through a full narrative. In this film, I get a much stronger sense that it was the ending that the film had in mind and a few struggles along the way to get there.
What this movie does have in spades is heart, and that’s in the form of really solid chemistry between Draper and Tacker as the father-son duo. It also helps that the character of Finn is infinitely less annoying than most of his kid-in-a-horror-movie counterparts. Simon’s desperation to hold his family together---to fix things---is what drives him to stay in the house beyond the point of reason, and it’s a tragic need that blinds him to what is happening around him.
There is also a lot in the way of atmosphere building. If you’ve ever spent time in an older house, especially a fix-me-up, you know that they are never short of weird sounds, uneven floors, and sometimes interesting construction choices. Your mileage may vary in terms of whether this is the right amount of tension building or too slow, but I found it nicely atmospheric.
Where the film struggles a bit is with the witch herself. Lydia, we learn, had a husband and child who were killed, and there were rumors that it was her doing. Why Lydia is haunting her home, and what exactly she wants from Simon and Finn are compelling questions that the move has to hold off on answering because to do so would tip its hand in terms of the final act.
And the final act itself, to stay vague, is a bit of a mixed bag. I found certain elements of it really powerful and moving and scary, but other parts of it confusing. One aspect in particular calls attention to a way that the film sets certain things up without knowing how to resolve them.
Definitely worth checking out.
The Witch in the Window, 2018
Simon (Alex Draper) and his son Finn (Charlie Tacker) arrive in a small town with the intention of restoring an old house. Things in their family aren’t going too well, and Simon is fixated on the renovation as the means of righting the ship. But this plan hits a major snag when it becomes clear that the house is possessed by the angry spirit of a former owner, Lydia (Carol Stanzione), and the more they fix up the house, the stronger she gets.
Uneven as a whole, this supernatural horror benefits from solid actor chemistry and some effectively chilling moments.
It’s especially common with movies in the horror or sci-fi genre to get the sense that a writer started with a really compelling hook or idea, but then just wasn’t sure how to carry things through a full narrative. In this film, I get a much stronger sense that it was the ending that the film had in mind and a few struggles along the way to get there.
What this movie does have in spades is heart, and that’s in the form of really solid chemistry between Draper and Tacker as the father-son duo. It also helps that the character of Finn is infinitely less annoying than most of his kid-in-a-horror-movie counterparts. Simon’s desperation to hold his family together---to fix things---is what drives him to stay in the house beyond the point of reason, and it’s a tragic need that blinds him to what is happening around him.
There is also a lot in the way of atmosphere building. If you’ve ever spent time in an older house, especially a fix-me-up, you know that they are never short of weird sounds, uneven floors, and sometimes interesting construction choices. Your mileage may vary in terms of whether this is the right amount of tension building or too slow, but I found it nicely atmospheric.
Where the film struggles a bit is with the witch herself. Lydia, we learn, had a husband and child who were killed, and there were rumors that it was her doing. Why Lydia is haunting her home, and what exactly she wants from Simon and Finn are compelling questions that the move has to hold off on answering because to do so would tip its hand in terms of the final act.
And the final act itself, to stay vague, is a bit of a mixed bag. I found certain elements of it really powerful and moving and scary, but other parts of it confusing. One aspect in particular calls attention to a way that the film sets certain things up without knowing how to resolve them.
Definitely worth checking out.