The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008)

Don't listen to the haters, if you're in the mood for a decent teen/scary movie, this movie is great. It's well directed, the acting is pretty good, and the main girl is definitely charismatic.This wasn't so much a gory scary movie, but more of a teen movie dealing with scary devil stuff. The movie kept me engaged. Although it didn't break the mold of the scary movie, it did keep things interesting to the end. The ending is a bit of thinker too.Overall, well put-together movie and worth a watch. Kept me engaged throughout the movie, and the ending was satisfying. Really can't understand why people hate on it so much.

This movie was well-acted, well-costumed, and well-shot. I was really excited for this movie after seeing the trailers, and this review is no criticism of Haley Bennett or Chace Crawford. Their performances were adequate, if not great. No, this criticism is entirely about the writing. The writing is terrible.I saw this movie in the theatre and walked out ranting with my husband about the ruined potential of this script. The premise had real potential, as it asks the question "Can someone else sell your soul for you?" As it functions on the idea of Christian hell and Satan, the answer should be "No, nobody can sell your sell it for you, only you can." Instead it says "Yes, and it will be awesome."

This is my first IMDb review prompted by the absolute worst film I have ever seen: the "Haunting of Molly Hartley".It is my intent to learn the screenwriter's identity because I will never watch another movie in which this author participates. The film's producers clearly have an agenda and it transparently overshadows the plot at every turn.Most movies, even horror movies, evoke a sort of justice or resolution, if only for a key character with whom viewers come to identify. This storyline breaks the rule, leaving the viewer only with a nauseating sense that the screenwriter and the film's producers have concocted the story merely to promote a Luciferian worldview.The "horror" in this film does not come in the form of psychological suspense, in creative plot twists or even in clever visual effects. The horror in the "Haunting of Molly Hartley" is purely in its ideology: People do not have freewill. Christians are freaks. God is absent. Satanic power is rewarding --- and that's true even if one resists evil, as does the main character.Molly Hartley, the lead character, is a prep school student about to turn 18 when she begins to suspect that her criminal mother, who is confined to a mental hospital, may have formed a pact with the Devil at her birth. At first, the story comes off as your typical made-for-TV series of predictable plot gimmicks but it is in how the characters evolve --- and how the story resolves for Molly --- that carries it from harmless cliché to a faith-bashing, evil-glorifying propaganda device.The storyline builds sympathy and concern for Molly Hartley's struggle to come to terms with her past and her "destiny" upon her impending 18th birthday. A scene at the prep school in which a teacher proposes the Bible as literature indicates the screenwriter's willingness to go out of his/her way to promote the idea that the Bible is not only passé but people of faith are nutcases. The scene could have been cut from the movie with no harm to the plot yet its presence is notable in that the producers apparently felt it necessary to go out of their way to use characters from the movie as a vehicle to convey spite. In short, the way in which this film is written and produced does nothing for the horror genera but it does everything it possibly can to stir real-world controversy.I regret that I watched this movie on Lifetime Movie Network. Until the network pulls the film --- which it has repeatedly aired since its debut in 2008 --- I view LMM and its sponsors as endorsers of HATE SPEECH.Make no mistake: This is not a horror or suspense film in any true sense. It is propaganda and proselytizing under the false guise of "entertainment".

(Please note, this review was based off a viewing years ago, however the experience has left scars burned into my mind like a chemical burn, I want to share my pain with you.) the beginning sets up what feels to be some rather solid suspense- a father tries to (successfully and very unwillingly) murder his daughter. i found it quite unnerving, why would something like this happen for what reasons? not bad but still lacking something.However the rest of the film fails to deliver the suspense that builds up in the first 10 minutes or so, as not only does the film force feed the viewer pretentious religious themes, all the so-called scares are cheap shocks, no foreboding, no sense of lingering paranoia, none. drama? yes plenty. Horror? no, just scares, cheap scares.Horror in essence is the fear coming off of the experience of something, this was not a horrifying movie, it was bland, cheap and pretentious. The essence of the cheapness and pretentiousness really shows itself in the film's climax- Molly was resurrected by a servant of the devil, and thus owes the devil her soul on her 18th birthday. (I'm pretty sure it was her 18th birthday, 6+6+6 = 18), She tries to do what her mother failed to do earlier in the movie- kill herself. She fails, her father is sent to a psych ward and molly "accepts herself for her destiny" or whatever she said before the "Ironic happy ending", which insultingly looked more like it was for a cheap Disney channel teen movie rather than a horror film, given the production of the movie, honestly I'm not surprised.The movie fits Merriam-Webster's definitions of Haunting: To visit often, to continually seek the company of, to have a disquieting or harmful effect on. I can't help but look for the silver lining that the title certainly lives up to it's name on a technical level. However in the spirit of horror movies, it takes a variety orifices encrusted in toxic fecal matter, and throws bleach all over it, making the bloody mess looking and smelling worse than it already is.I sincerely apologize for the mental image i just gave you, but i really cannot otherwise summarize what this movie does to the horror genre.