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A Masterpiece!

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

I love a well-acted film--especially a classic Ghost Story. The two schoolgirls, one of whom is being haunted in her family home, are perfectly on cue with every word spoken, with body language, with facial expression. Quite a good film with some genuinely scary moments. Characters are well developed. The story is allegedly based on true events, similar to the Enfield Haunting films Conjuring II and the somewhat-plodding BBC miniseries starring Timothy Spall.

A ghost story set in 1970s Yorkshire is unusual. The Maynards move in to a new house in 1974. Their teenage daughter quickly believes that their is something spooky in the house with unusual paranormal activities.It soon becomes clear a poltergeist is in the house and is threatening the family and anyone else entering the house. The family get a priest to perform an exorcism. It seems that there are two spirits in the house. An evil priest that once raped and killed young girls and another, a young girl which is trying to warn the family to get out of the house.The film has a good period setting which stinks of mid 1970s Britain and its also goes for eeriness rather than gore as well as some Yorkshire wit and grit.However it does feel a lot like a television film to me not helped by the fact that several members of the cast of the television series, Line of Duty turn up here. It also reminded me somewhat of the recent BBC television series, Remember Me that starred Michael Palin.The more obvious comparisons are though is the original version of Poltergeist with shades of The Exorcism thrown in.So there is nothing novel here but its a well made, low budget drama. The ending however just feels a little too contrived and feel good though.

The Maynard family move into their dream house, only to find out something is already living there. Len, Jenny and their daughter Sally struggle to keep their already-fragile family together as they are attacked by the poltergeist. It becomes apparent that Sally is the poltergeist's main focus of attention, and the house slowly becomes a living nightmare. Its true story time again, and here we have a 'real life' relative of the family not only writing the film, but also directing the tale. Now, whilst he doesn't pull any punches with the families struggles, it hardly touches on the financial crisis that befell many at the time.But then the film is about a poltergeist haunting a family. Imagine The Entity with several helping of stodgy hot-pot, and you get the gist of this film.But my gosh, its a mundane plodding affair, about as depressing as Sunday evening when you realise that the weekend is over.The cast are OK, Ashfield is okay as the troubled mother, but Waddington is fabulous as the anxious father. He knows his family are on the breadline, and now he has even more spirits to add to the ones he has at his local. But he is the only highlight of this otherwise poor film.Which is a shame, because the story is so interesting, but the result I'm afraid comes across more like a Heartbeat Halloween special, than a feature film.

A have read a review on this site, where the poster says he or she has seen similar things in other horror films. This may be true but it is pretty hard with poltergeist movies not to duplicate, things being displaced etc, I found the setting of 70's Britain excellent,having lived through the 70's it brought back memories of collars on the outside of jackets and the humour added another dimension. The acting was realistic and unlike so many films there was a story which had a conclusion. How many times do we sit with the credits coming down and think "is that it, has it finished?" Personally I don't believe in ghosts, poltergeists, exorcisms, etc but this film kept me entertained which is all you can ask.