Half Light (2006)

I have just done something I've never done before, namely to read ALL the previous reviews - all 118 of them! Demi Moore has such a high reputation that I thought I might be doing her an injustice by giving "Half Light" a bad review. Maybe it was just me that was at fault. Maybe I'm just too stupid to follow the depth of the sizzling plot and to wonder who was who and what the heck was going on? To my relief and surprise, I find that the "noes" account for at least fifty or sixty of these previous reviews. And I fully agree with just about everything the "noes" have raised. I found the plot both illogical and hard to follow.Maybe I found it illogical because it was hard to follow, or hard to follow because it was so illogical? I tend to favor the second alternative and I'm both glad and relieved to find that many of the previous reviewers experienced just the same problems.A pity. Demi Moore is a fine actress and it's a shame to find her associated with this piece of illogical and disappointing plotting that actually gets less and less credible as it proceeds. Admittedly, the movie starts off well. But having laid a splendid foundation, the scriptwriters totally lose their way. (Maybe this is wrong. Maybe the fault is mine. So lets put it this way: They totally lost ME!

"Maybe the dead miss us more than we miss them." So says the adorable young Scotsman (Hans Matheson) who befriends a grieving mother (Demi Moore) who has gone from London to the Scottish isles to grieve and work on her latest novel. She befriends Matheson who offers her a sweet friendship that goes beyond what she expected, and when the truth comes out about him, in addition to some strong nightmares of her own in regards to her dead son whom she takes responsibility for his death by drowning. Having been out of the limelight in major movie making for some time, Moore isn't somebody whose career I'd follow, but this one is surprisingly quite good. Everything from the setup of the poor kid's death to her arrival in Scotland, the romance that blooms, and the mystery surrounding why she is being haunted. Matheson, quietly sexy, gives enough hints to add a dark danger to his character, bringing on some shocking twists and keeping you gripped. Great scenery and a beautiful musical score add to the effectiveness of most of the film. Not since "The Woman in White" has there been a Gothic mystery filled with romance, psychological twists and a ton of surprises. While I wish that the writers had chosen a different path with one of the major twists, I felt that in spite of its ridiculousness, they handled it fairly well considering, even adding in a ghostly surprise to top it all off. This is the type of film that won't go down as a ghostly classic, but won't have you shouting "boo!"

Listed as a horror, but it's really not a 'scary movie' per se, it's more drama than anything else with moments of thrilling suspense.The movie takes a while to get going, some people might even consider changing the channel in the first half cause they think it's a little too sappy or sweet but if you do you will miss out on a stellar second half which comes with plentiful of surprises (without spoiling anything) so I recommend sticking it through all the way even if you're struggling.The acting is fine from pretty much all accounts and it's a little different to your typical ghost-movie fares that's for sure.So yeah worth seeing, but yeah horror-fans looking for their daily fans of gore and mayhem might want to look elsewhere.

Not much to say about Craig Rosenberg since he had not worked much before this movie as a director, or since this movie's release. His minor credits are public knowledge on the IMDb. The film is poorly edited and jumpy at times, there is also problems with the lighting and framing (which I thought might be on purpose, but I cannot see why so many shots are mis-framed). This film came along after Ms. Moore had not worked in several years, and whether that was by choice or not, the first film back probably did not give her many options. She is a fine actress and she does the best with what she had to work with. In fact, I cannot really see where any of the actors did not do their job and try to sell this film. The real problem behind this film is that it is just rehashed plots from different films. The ending is rushed and not thought out, neither is it set up by the end of the second act--which it should be with such a twist--which is a betrayal of the audience. In the end the fault is with the director and screenwriter, and like his screenplay "The Uninvited" this film is uninviting....