The movie is wildly uneven but lively and timely - in its own surreal way

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

The acting in this movie is really good.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Four friends break into an abandoned insane asylum in search of a death certificate which will grant one of them a large inheritance. However, finding it soon becomes the least of their worries in a place haunted by dark memories. I can't believe that Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Die Hard 2: Die Harder) and Eliza Dushku (True Lies, Wrong Turn) agreed to star in this horrible mess of a film which dragged, bored and just wasted my freaking time. Eloise is nothing more than a low budget mystery horror flick that doesn't work. (0/10)

After getting past the stupid legalities purported to make this set up possible, one of my favorites was Sam bringing them into the building through this tight little wedge so we could find out what Jake's "fear" is. They travel around in the building when lo and behold a security guard just walks right in the front door!I guess this brain trust foursome didn't think to try that! And it only goes downhill from there. I don't recall Dell saying he was afraid of water or drowning but he walks into a walk through room where both doors close and water pours in and he drowns. And yet Jake & Pia only once say his name when they are looking for Sam & wonder where Dell is & he is then totally forgotten for the rest the film. I hope Robert Patrick got paid well to put himself into this drivel. And pretty much the same for Eliza Dushku.

First, let me say I am not a horror film aficionado. I do not watch them, period. However I am extremely interested in urban exploration of abandoned mental hospitals. That is what peeked my interest initially.The story line is your basic way to get into these abandoned hospitals, then the visions and hysteria that accompanies infiltration once there. I agree the acting left a lot to be desired, but I think the strength of the movie lies in the depiction of suspended reality. Which is real and which is imagined scenes? The film left me a bit unbalanced as I watched the 4 struggle with their own fears while in the very secret, very restricted annex.Did anybody get the homeless guy? Well, I thought about him for awhile, then concluded he was the infamous Dr. H.H. Greiss in the flesh looking for a part of his life that was taken away from him. Watch this part carefully and see if you don't agree. I thought the plot twist at the end regarding the true relationships from the past was sheer genius, including that of Jacob and Dr. Greiss. Once again, having read the previous reviews, you should bypass the horror aspect and look at it from the perspective of hidden lives that were never fully buried. The beginning shows Pia in some sort of room. Was that a modern version of Eloise? Was it jail, what was it? In the end they go back to the room with Pia. I liked that full circle inference and the parallel to what the patients of Eloise may have experienced. It depicts being unhinged in what seems to be a reality you are lost in, when no one believes what you have seen. Was the whole affair nothing but a figment of Pia's broken brain? Hmm, did she create the sketches, the receipts, the entire story because she was crazy and had been part of Eloise as a child, then locked away in an asylum for life, where she could only create a normal life by living in her head, but not really living it? As horror, it left much to be desired. However, the story told may not be what you think, or maybe it is. You decide.

*** This review may contain spoilers *** When a film starts with a premise that is both legally and technically incorrect (that you'd have to go to a hospital where someone may or may not have died to retrieve a death certificate)then you know that you are in trouble. When you have then have to believe that someone would have to commit a a series of felonies just to get something which is readily available at any state's department of vital records (for a small fee) then you know that the film you are watching is a dog.This is very little suspense in this film and almost no real "horror." The "disturbing scenes" are actually quite tame in comparison to most films out on the market. And the protagonist and his cohort are not interesting enough to distract the viewer from the numerous inconsistencies and plot holes which which this film is replete.Other than to see the always exceptional Eliza Dushku in form-fitting clothing and perhaps to enjoy a vintage Cadillac convertible being shown, there's really nothing here to recommend this film. It's another dull and forgettable low budget offering whose trailer is far more interesting than its entirety.