Haunts

Haunts (AKA “The Veil”) is not what I would call a great movie, but it does have some good characters, decent portrayals, and interesting plot lines going for it. It takes place in a small town, the type of place where the staff of the sheriff’s office goes out bowling to kill time because nothing tends to happen. That changes quickly when people start turning up murdered and quite messily so. It has the dinky little town terrified.

The focus is Ingrid, a lonely farm girl living with her uncle, a man of questionable habits. She’s scared to death and for good reason when the killer attempts to make her his next victim. Why is her uncle so unconcerned about the attack?

The identity of the killer is not a huge mystery and is not even the focus of the ending. We find out long before the end who the culprit is, and it’s not particularly shocking. What is more surprising is what comes after. There are twists and turns after the killer's capture that probably aren’t as predictable as you might think. This is the movie’s real strength (such as it is). While not all of the developments are well done most of them are interesting and adequately explained.

There’s a decent back story for Ingrid and her family. The problem is that for a while we get only glimpses of it through very quick flashbacks intercut into the movie. These initial glimpses aren’t very well done. They do end up paying off later on at least, but they could have been more powerful at their introduction.

The story can otherwise feel haphazard and rambling. The director wants to keep certain things obscure and misleading (for the surprises coming late in the film) but can't accomplish this in a way that a master like Alfred Hitchcock might have.

The acting is decent despite being a cast full of unknowns. Cameron Mitchell might ring a bell. He plays Ingrid's shady uncle. May Britt as Ingrid is surprisingly good considering the level of acting I see in some of these old, obscure thrillers. She's not perfect by any means, but she does add some credibility to the story.

MORALITY:

This is a PG movie, but you might want to be careful; there is a rape scene and discussions of such things which could be too troubling for some viewers though I would not describe them as being in any way gratuitous. We never see any nudity but the shower and rape scenes come close with camera angles and objects obscuring just enough of the view.

The strong language is very mild.

There is some violence and we get glimpses of some bloody corpses, but there isn’t anything I would call gory.

SPIRITUALITY:

Fear can lead us down many troubling paths. It can cause us act irrationally and selfishly. Christians too often forget that God has not given us a spirit of fear. We cower from demons and act like the power they have is greater than that of God. Talk about a conflicting message! And trust me, people notice! I've had a disheartening number of conversations about fearful Christians who are supposed to be believing in an all-powerful God who is in control of everything. Trust God and believe in his love. Fear cannot stand against that.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The movie takes some interesting narrative steps but doesn’t manage to be gripping or impacting enough to be impressive. I can’t help but think that in the hands of a talented director this could have been a pretty decent flick.

#Haunts