Behind the Wall (2008)

Katelyn Parks returns to the sleepy town that she had lived in the past to attend a town meeting over the fate of the lighthouse her family had owned for years after a letter invited her there. But she discovers that the letter inviting her was forged. The lighthouse hasn't been occupied since 1987 when her mother was killed by a mysterious presence that her father took the blame for. She visits the lighthouse to collect her old belongings but is warned by the deputy mayor & his developers not to cause any trouble since the lighthouse is due for a restoration as part of an ambitious plan to redevelop the site for a large golf park & ski field. She doesn't want the development to go ahead & joins the local priest in condemning it. But they don't have to cause any trouble themselves – a pair of workers accidentally open a locked door in the basement, releasing a ghost that had been after the Parks family for years & who the priest knew personally & is hiding a secret over it. The ghost proceeds to pick off the workers on the site.Behind the Wall is a 2007 B-grader ghost story that was made in Canada during the country's boom in cheap genre works at the time. The film can be considered a sort of knock-off of the John Carpenter classic The Fog but with the story confined to a lighthouse & given the format of a slasher film.The film is a pretty average ghost story, nothing more. The story is economical & has very little in the way of innovation for the genre at all. But it is still pretty reasonable for the horror genre & the story is still interesting although the rationale for the ghost's haunting & some of the characters' motivations are a little contrived. Lindy Booth & James Thomas do a passable job of the lead characters & Lawrence Dane is suitably grim as the old priest who has a guilty secret relating to the ghost haunting the lighthouse.

I always give films a chance and as such watched this to the bitter end. Where to start..... Made for TV has become known to mean a film that may not be of the quality Hollywood demands. I would say this was "made for betamax"!Acting: Poor to awful Plot: Could have been handled better Production: Non existent Music: From an episode of some cancelled 70's dramaWhat more to say.....I want 1 hour and 29 minutes of my life back!!Really, even if you are bored out your mind watching paint dry would be far more enriching to your life.

I don't know if this movie was intended as a remake, but I couldn't help but notice that this movie reminds me a lot of the late 60's B movie called the Shuddered Room with Carol Lynnly and Gig Young. Location in New England, lighthouse, mysterious person hidden away, young woman comes back home after leaving as a child, parents dead, flashbacks, and an old person dying in a fire at the end with the ghost/ creature. Way too many similarities. This movie wasn't scary at all, and I was able to actually predict the ending due to my assumption that this was a remake of the Shuddered Room. The Shuddered Room is a rarely seen anymore, but its story line is much better and creepier.

There was NOT one intense moment to this film. Matter of fact, the actors weren't even scared! No pulse-gripping or jaw-dropping parts, no suspense, no shock, no yelling at the screen...no nothing. It was as suspenseful as watching a maggot squirm out of a rotten apple and as interesting as watching a stray cat dig through my garbage, seriously. I read somewhere where 2 ppl said this movie was a good watch, no sir. I had to keep stuffing my mouth to stay awake while everyone else dozed in & out of the film. The acting by James Thomas, who played opposite of Lindy most of the time, was so dry and bad that I actually felt sorry for the pretty red head actress, whom at least put up effort on some parts. Unfortunately though, her acting wasn't consistent, creative or powerful enough to carry the film. Lawrence Dane, who played Father Hendry, proved to be a professional actor and convincing. The acting by others & the storyline was dry & shabby for even television, and I don't know how to make it any clearer than that. Matter of fact, the synopsis I wrote is more interesting than the film itself. I hung in hoping it would kick into high gear somewhere down the line. It never did. And, the blood on the bodies came from long scratches. That's it, that's all folks. If you have a weak-stomach, this is not going to faze you. One huge plot hole was in the main plot. The killer ghost who ended up killing ppl w/ cat scratches..lol, claimed he was 'innocent' of any crime when he himself was murdered. That was suppose to be the clincher & his lame excuse for clawing a few ppl to death, which we don't get to see until someone finds them. Everyone living ends up sympathizing w/ him, "yet" everyone seemed to forget, once he's died he became a pain in the arse murderer!