Good start, but then it gets ruined

Admirable film.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I saw this movie for the first time last night and while I liked most of the movie the ending was unfinished. The premise is that a little girl went missing 250 years ago and since then her mother has been searching for her.I read how the movie ends in the Q & A section but it was so much less than described. The climax was exciting though how the mother knew exactly where the crypt of a ruin she'd never been to was in the dark was a bit predictable. And at one point the alive little girl speaks with the ghost of the dead girl and comments "Your mother is looking for you." To which the ghost girl replies "I know." That's it. No more dialog about why the ghost girl is avoiding her mother.In the final scene, the mother and girl put flowers on the new grave of the ghost girl. OK, but where are the ghosts to join in this conclusion? A 250 year old mystery and search is over, shouldn't they have been there to find their rest as well? If you don't mind movies that end sloppily, this is a good one, but I would much rather have had a scene added where they had the funeral for the ghost girl with the townspeople there and the ghost mother and ghost daughter reuniting and finding peace. As it is, it is unfinished.

i live in the town next to where this movie is supposed to take place, so i knew of the legend very well and i grew up knowing it. i was disappointed when i heard they where making it into a movie, but once i saw it (mind you- it was the first time they played it on lifetime movie network..loll) i LOVED it! the actors are amazing, and its funny when i pass places that they filmed at cause I'm like "hey! the girl who played Lucy stood right here!" yeah- I'm really cool like that, but my friends are always stealing my copy of the movie to watch, i'd definitely recommend it for anyone. its a great scary movie because no one really gets hurt, so you can sleep well- unless you're me who lives pretty much in the same town XD

John Stimpson's, The Legend of Lucy Keyes (2006), is a below average script gone wrong. As I sat in the theater, two things kept crossing my mind: Is this really the same Julie Deply I know from Blue (1993); followed by: has it been 93 minutes yet? Legend is about a middle-class family of city dwellers that have just moved to a New England country-side home in support of a windmill project being constructed by husband and father, Guy Cooley (Justin Theroux). Strange vibes exist from day one when not-so-friendly-neighbor/pig farmer Jonas Dodd (Mark Boone Junior) refuses to say hello to Guy, creating an uneasy tension?, later resulting in many weird unexplained scenes, including a bloody pigs head on a stick during a casual walk through the woods.Meanwhile, Wife Jeanne Cooley (Julie Delpy) is constantly waking up in the middle of the night, hearing voices disguised as wind coming from the woods. Intertwined with her night terrors are flashbacks of her youngest daughter, who is now deceased, being struck by a car (we learn this information through dropped ice cream cones and screeching tires). The only point to establishing a dead daughter as a character is to reinforce the mothers need to keep her surviving children alive, as if we sympathize with the mom: "Jeanne has already lost one daughter, it would be a shame for her to lose another." No kidding.It gets worse.Through a town meeting filled with some of the most awkward dialog ever filmed, the superstitious ramblings of Gretchen Caswell (Jamie Donnelly) who is described as a "funny looking lady with white hair", inform us that "Martha's Land", where the windmills are being built, is haunted by a 250 year old ghost Martha (Rachel Harker), who is still involved in a never ending search for her abducted/murdered daughter Lucy Keyes.Parallels between Jeanne Cooley and the Martha ghost begin to unfold (...basically their daughters have the same name...) which is shown in a flashback, yes another one, using the combined knowledge of the we-know-you're-in-danger-but-why-would-we-inform-you townspeople. The flashback depicts a 250 years old scene of "alive" Martha ringing a dinner bell to attract Lucy's attention, followed by Jeanne repeating the scene in present time. (Note the exquisite dialogue: "I got you a gift. You've always wanted a dinner bell") The inevitable disappearance of Lucy is delayed for what seems like hours. Finally, the Martha ghost (this is a ghost story, right?) appears and flies through a little crack in Lucy's window, but instead of grabbing Lucy as any childless mother ghost would, just stands still and allows the scary music to play. Eventually, Lucy goes missing and a search party is formed, just like it was 250 years ago and the cycle repeats itself (although no murders of Native Americans take place this time). The difference is, almost by some sort of psychic premonition (which would have made more sense than the way the scene actually played out), Jeanne and Guy find their daughter and finally the madness is over.If my review seems all over the place, that simply means I succeeded in conveying the story.But maybe I am being too harsh. There were a couple redeeming qualities of the film, and I must give credit where it is due. First off, I walked out of the theater much more appreciative of what a good movie actually looks like, and maybe the best part of all: it happened to be a free screening.

John Stimpson has woven a suspenseful tale using a local legend and significant historical documentation to keep you on the edge of your seat. Taking place in a rural New England town, he takes advantage of the local color and scenery to make even the legend to appear very real. Melding modern technology with pre Revolutionary War scenes, he keeps you guessing. Even when you think you have figured it out, he throws you another curve building to and unexpected climax. The cinematography is spectacular. You owe it to yourself to see this one. Keep up the great work John, and we will be looking forward to your next venture.