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Jul 28, 2015Nursebob rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
To truly enjoy this twisty tale you of course have to forgive the usual nonsensical horror conventions common to any "haunted thingamajig" story and writer/director Mike Flanagan manages to squeak by with a handful of satisfactory explanations couched within a script that is unexpectedly hair-raising once it gets going. But, above being an effective ghost story, Flanagan manages to pull off a small dramatic coup by running two parallel stories simultaneously—showing what really happened to the children all those years ago while at the same time showing an adult Tim and Kaylie entering the supernatural fray once again. The result is a dizzying montage of past and present as we see the kids running up stairs and hiding in bedrooms while their grownup selves do pretty much the same, all giving rise to an increasingly monstrous reveal which Flanagan wisely saves for the end. And those glowing-eyed creepies which seem to be around every other corner are pure nightmare fodder. Good scary fun!