Released: 2008 Reviewed: 10.30.09
Star rating: 4 out of 5
Famke Janssen (Marnie), Bobby Cannavale (Shanks), Ed Westwick (Joey), Michael Pare (Mike), John Fallon (Jimmy).
Marnie kills her abusive cop husband Mike in self-defense and now years later will serve the remainder of her sentence under house arrest. But when she moves back into the house she shared with her husband his ghost quickly makes it clear he hasn't forgiven her. With Mike's partner, Shanks, watching her every move and Marnie unable to travel more than 100-feet from the electronic ankle bracelet base she finds herself trapped in her own home with a very angry ghost.
There is some minor character development followed by a quick plot setup before this one gets to the meat of things. Once there, the action really moves along and does a great job of keeping you on the edge of your seat. As the violence slowly increases in frequency and extent Marnie becomes more and more desperate while at the same time fighting back. I enjoyed that Marnie was depicted as a woman willing to fight back rather than just run around screaming and cowering in the corner. Although I didn't think the movie was exactly 'scary', it did keep my attention very well. The ending was a bit simple after the build-up of the movie but still well done.
Acting was very good from Janssen and she was believeable as an angry battered wife who had done prison time. Cannavale impressed me in his role as well with good energy. I'm also glad Pare didn't have a bigger role as I think it would have detracted from the film.
Camera work, sets, and backgrounds were all nicely done. Special effects were much better than I expected from this film and the one gore scene is awesome. Dialogue and sound were also well done resulting in a good quality film.
Overall a well done supernatural thriller well worth the time if you are at all a fan of the genre. With a fair amount of violence, terror, foul language and one sex scene save this for older teens and above.
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