Overrated and overhyped

Disturbing yet enthralling

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The original story line was of a writer who moved into this supposed haunted house in hopes of sparking an idea for a new novel. He is haunted in his dreams by the ghost of a young girl who lures him into the cellar. Over a period of about a month and creative investigation on the houses history, he discovers that a young girl, who was 15 years old at the turn of the century, became pregnant by her boyfriend. The father was so ashamed and so enraged by his daughters behavior, that he walled her up alive down in the cellar. Nearly a hundred years goes by before her story is learned by our writer. He opens up the wall in the cellar and finds a cavity that has been exposed to the elements. The odd noises he heard during the previous month seems to have been coming from this cavity. He decides its all in his imagination, and that it could make a good book. What he doesn't see is that there is another room off to the side of the cavity that contains a skeleton of a young girl. This movie was based on a short story entitled "The Hidden Truth". And was written by yours truly in 1987.

The Forgotten One starts as novelist Bob Anderson (Terry O'Quinn) drives into Denver, Colorado to begin a new life after the death of his wife several months earlier. He rents a nice house where he thinks he will be alright but he will be anything but alright as he begins to experience dreams which rapidly turn into nightmares & he has the worst case of writers block he ever has, he can't get past the word 'the' on the first page (now that's what I call writers block!). However Bob strikes up a relationship with one of his neighbours Barbara Stupple (Kristy McNichol) whom seem to like each other. One night Bob has a one night stand with a singer named Carla (Elizabeth Brooks) who, while walking around Bob's house, sees a ghost with empty eye sockets & falls out of a second storey window badly injuring herself. This is just the start as Bob himself is witness to the ghost, he hears voices & he sees her in his basement. Upon closer inspection Bob discovers a grisly secret in the basement & a tragic past that surrounds it that threatens his very life...Written & directed by Phillip Badger I thought The Forgotten One was going to be crap but as it turned out I actually quite liked it, it ain't perfect but it's a decent supernatural thriller/horror that probably deserves to be more well known. The script is sort of divided into two, the first half of the film is all about ghostly goings on & this is the horror part of the film with a nice creepy mysterious atmosphere to it but then during the second half it changes into a Fatal Attraction (1987) clone as our ghost Evelyn (Blair Parker) suddenly turns into a beautiful young woman who tries to seduce Bob & even ends up killing his cat. Obviously the first half is far superior to the second as it tries, & succeeds, to be a spooky horror film that builds itself up. Unfortunately the whole beautiful ghost, sex, piano tune, back story type themes that emerge during the slower second half just don't work as well & seem at odds with what has gone on previously but it still manages to both maintain interest & entertain, you can't really ask for more than that I suppose. It's slightly slow & sedate pace may put some people off as will the lack of any significant action or special effect scenes. There are only four character's in the entire film worth mentioning so it's a very character driven story which some may like while other's may not, the very downbeat ending won't sit well with those who like happy 'everythings worked out perfectly' Hollywood ones.Director Badger tells a pretty good tale although I wish the film as a whole was more consistent & he had gone for genuine creepiness & scares throughout the entire duration rather than letting things degenerate into a love story between the ghostly Evelyn & Bob. There's a nice atmosphere running through the film & it has some nice sequences. There is no blood, gore or violence as The Forgotten One relies on storytelling for it's effectiveness. There is however a fair amount of nudity & sex during the latter stages as our ghost Evelyn isn't scared to get her bits'n'pieces out for all to see.Technically The Forgotten One is fine, there's no flashy camera work or special effects but it's generally well made. The acting is pretty good & I don't have any complaints here.The Forgotten One was a lot better than I had expected but at the same time didn't quite do enough to totally impress, it's well worth a watch for sure but I doubt many would want to see it more than once & if only the second half had been as good as the first this could have been a little gem of a film, unfortunately it isn't so it ain't.

This kind of "case suggestive of reincarnation" has intrigued me for years, but not since The Reincarnation of Peter Proud and the Two Worlds of Jennie Logan have I seen a movie so unique. Bravo to all involved, for their courage. Blair Parker (Evelyn) is gorgeous, but this seems to be the only movie she ever made. The movie is haunting (no pun intended), and I would like to find a soundtrack if there is one.

I had never heard of this film, and didn't think this would be too great. But this movie was pretty damn good. Who knew? I am a little biased, because I really like Terry O'Quinn (from those good old "Stepfather" movies). But I'm also biased in the other direction, since I really dislike Kristy McNichol. In this film, a recently-widowed writer moves into a house in Denver, only to find it haunted by a blood-curdlingly scary (at first) ghost. When he collects enough courage to investigate, he finds that the ghost is actually a blood-warmingly hot woman, who died in the house. His neighbour (McNichol), first believes him crazy, then tries to save him as he falls in love with the occasionally bare-naked and occasionally homicidal ghost. The first half was very scary, and by the end, it actually got pretty sweet. In the end, I was very glad I watched it, and a pleasant surprise is the best surprise of all.