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The Haunting of Helena

The Haunting of Helena (2013)

June. 21,2013
|
4.6
|
NR
| Horror Thriller

After a divorce, Sophia moves to the south of Italy with her daughter, Helena. Their new home, an apartment within an austere building of the fascist age, is a chance for them to start a new life. But inside an old storage room hides a mysterious closet and a buried secret. After the loss of Helena’s first baby tooth, a chilling obsession begins and an apparition haunts her sleep...

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Reviews

TheLittleSongbird
2013/06/21

Saw 'The Haunting of Helena', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.Giving 'The Haunting of Helena' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'The Haunting of Helena' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.'The Haunting of Helena' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue. Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere. The setting is effectively spooky and some of the acting in support was not bad. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in the first half does intrigue.However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising enough. Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. The two leads' acting is even more problematic than the second half's storytelling, at best it was poor and too often terrible.Overall, better than expected but not great still. 5/10 Bethany Cox

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jglrichey
2013/06/22

It's not a bad film. It's got some decent direction and some well-constructed scenes, even if it's got nothing new to add to the genre. However, the acting from the lead is so stilted and wooden that it undermines the entire movie. I'd have given it a watchable 5 apart from that.

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Leofwine_draca
2013/06/23

THE HAUNTING OF HELENA (bizarrely retitled FAIRYTALE on the version I saw) is a ho-hum Italian ghost flick masquerading as a British film (everyone here speaks with strong British accents, although whether this was dubbed for UK release I don't know). It tell the usual tale of a mother and daughter who move into a new home which turns out to be haunted, and when the daughter loses one of her teeth in the night all hell literally breaks loose.The tooth connection is a tenuous part of what is a very ordinary ghostly chiller with lots of CGI spirit stuff and not much in the way to recommend it in the scheme of things. As with many modern horror films, the whole thing has a dark and dismal look to it, and there are very few things which happen in the story which are well staged. It's not that this is particularly bad, or poorly made, because it isn't; it's just so passe.

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themissingpatient
2013/06/24

Many will pass this film by simply because of the title. Every film with the title "The Haunting of..." has been a horrible embarrassment for the horror genre. The film was originally titled Fairytale and probably would have been better off keeping that title even if it's vague and just as generic. It is quite a basic and somewhat boring ghost story, so this review will be short and to the point.The Haunting of blah, blah, blah is a low budget wannabe Asian horror film. This one tries to be the definitive tooth fairy tale and thankfully isn't anything like the 2003 train wreck, Darkness Falls. It's actually a very good looking film with decent performances. Some better than others. The practical make-up effects and cinematography are excellent while everything else is quite mediocre.What really holds this dramatic horror film back is when the story just gives up on trying to keep any originality the movie might have had by just re-telling the last act of The Ring. Even though that is somewhat still better than most films in it's genre, horror fans will find themselves bored as the final act feels as if it drags on forever.

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