Best movie of this year hands down!

To me, this movie is perfection.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Saw 'The Haunting of Helena', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.Giving 'The Haunting of Helena' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'The Haunting of Helena' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.'The Haunting of Helena' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue. Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere. The setting is effectively spooky and some of the acting in support was not bad. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in the first half does intrigue.However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising enough. Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. The two leads' acting is even more problematic than the second half's storytelling, at best it was poor and too often terrible.Overall, better than expected but not great still. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I truly don't understand why this movie scores this low. I watched hundreds, maybe thousands horror movies threw the years. And from experience I know that a movie doesn't need to be too complex or with to much gore and all that. The acting, music, camera work and things like that drag you into it, and small things can scare you with all those things being printed inside you. The way this movie builds up is very satisfying. Just a nice flow where you feel that the makers put a lot of time into details, especially the music and wow, the acting and choice of actors. In my book this.movie is a classic. I really enjoyed it and was pleased with the ending since the twist at the end puts all the parts together in a logical way.Do not believe the bad reviews, honestly, those people are after the terrible 80's horror movies, without emotion, content or anything. This.movie is my new standard and should be a warning to future horror movies, watch and learn from these masters. What a delight this movie is!!!

Picture this, a blockbuster employee locked in an immobilizing state of flux. Poised between genres, DVD in hand. Then he takes the first tantalizing steps, he is no fool. For he has actually watched "the haunting of Helena" and is not swayed by the devilishly frightening front cover (that which pulled me in I'm afraid) Carefully placing the DVD upon the shelves labeled "comedy" The Blockbuster employee walks away, satisfied at a job well done.The haunting of Helena is not an awful watch really, that being said it is not at all a horror. It fits into a category better described as "horredy". A horror so poorly conducted that it causes genuine hilarity and thus through a great accident manages to become mildly entertaining.The protagonist, so memorable her name is in fact one of the only character names I cannot recall, is (for want of a better description) a big wet lettuce. She whines so much it's no wonder her life is in danger all the time, I wanted to kill her too, I would have at least put a measure of effort into making my crimes somewhat scary. The film starts in a promising way, I was impressed by the first scare tactic which took away from the typical "false scare real scare" that is so over used these days. But generally there are a lot of unnecessary over-complications to the plot. I am still unsure as to why the militia were ever involved in anything? Also. Who cut that child's hair? Now that's truly horrendous.

Im not one to generally write reviews here i'd rather read them if you know what i mean but the reviews here so far, albeit still low-ish at 4-5 stars are way too generous! the whole movie reeks of amateur acting and equally poor sound effects which makes for awkward viewing and thats before i even touch the storyline - its so scattered and pointless. This is time wasted from my life that i'll never get back but hopefully this saves someone some of theirs!!!!And I'm not even a hyper critical person when it comes to this genre, I'm quite willing to give films a fair crack especially horror films but this just sucked the life straight of of both itself and me