Haunted Echoes (2008)

Let me tell you a bit about how I knew about this movie before even seeing it in a bargain bin. I have seen the works of Harry Bromley Davenport, an English director who made it big in the early 80's with the video nasty, Xtro (which is a guilty pleasure). Since then he's had ups and downs. His downs include films like Xtro 2 and Smile Pretty yet he has had a few movies where he has demonstrated that he actually can be good when he wants to be. Despite its problems Xtro 3 is a passable little alien horror movie and Mockingbird Don't Sing is one of my favourite movies. So overall I do have a mixed feeling about him in general. So when I saw that this was a film he directed I was shocked (because his films are hard to find in Australia) and I decided "why not?" Now that I've seen it, all I'm asking is "why?"So the movie starts out with a dog barking at something in the dark, a little girl named Kimberly goes out to check on him and gets kidnapped. I know it may be shocking to people that feel that but the parents in this movie don't do a goddamn think when they notice the dog barking...good start already.After searching for a total of 9 days they come across Kimberly as a rotting corpse. The parents, played by Sean Young and David Starzyk, decide to move house because the memories are too painful.But there is one big shock, the house is haunted. So for scares what does this ghost do? Write on the wall while they're doing a paint job, turns on the TV and computer printer and appears as a little girl to a neighbour in the window. Now that last one might be the only legitimate creepy scene...its never shown on screen. The ghost does nothing intimidating at ALL on screen. Not even remotely. I thought the ghost in Grindstone Road was bad but hey, I'll take rattling pipes and water over this any day.So they call in a psychic that I swear to god makes William Shatner look subtle and he informs them the Ghost is Kimberly and shes trying to tell them who killed her. One question, movie, How did Kimberly become a ghost in a house she's never been in before?They find out that the killer is not the guy that was arrested and the person that really did it was a teacher at Kimberly's old school who is a pedophile. Young shares a conversation with him and she just HAPPENS to be on school premises even though her daughter is dead asking questions and has no doubt in her mind after one conversation that he killed her. So this character bases all her "fact" on the word of a psychic she never met before the reading and the "suspect" acting a bit odd. Tell me if you see the same flaw I see.Young and Starzyk wait outside the school to take one of Kimberly's old friends to their house and seduces her with a mystery present in the hopes that they can talk to her about the teacher. My problem with this scene is that in fiction once you cross the line of pedophilia, there is no going back.So the girl is attacked by the Ghost and her mother, surprisingly is never seen in this movie (and we never hear if she's pressing charges for the two of them kidnapping her daughter!) and Sean Young comes to the conclusion that the only way to get justice is to kill the teacher. At this point, no more evidence besides one conversation and the word of a psychic contribute to it. But because the ghost has been calling him up he decides to go over there and settle this and it turns out he did kill a girl, its just his adopted sister who he molested. The ghost fatally wounds him and Starzyk finishes him off in front of the neighbour who tells the police it was self defense and that "in a way it was" the teacher at that point had a knife in his heart and lying on the floor completely unable to fight back. And the movie pretty much stops with a flashback of Kimberly performing at a school choir and the person who was first arrested looking at her in "that way".My biggest problem with this movie is that nothing seems to go right. The writing is beyond pathetic, the story is so clichéd that you've seen it 1000 times before, the acting is beyond atrocious (and considering the people involved in this movie, thats no easy statement to make) everything about this film is inept.The worst thing about this film is that for a movie about a couple that loose their only child, you'd expect at least one of them to have a moment of grief over what happened. There is not ONE scene. They are so content almost all the time that at points, you forget that they even had a child.The other thing thats beyond ineptly performed is that when Sean Young just decides that she'll kill the teacher she sound so adamant that its near psychotic. I got to know almost nothing about these characters that in spite of the fact that they lost a daughter, I'd believe the killer's alibi that the only person he killed was his EVIL sister. The way the movie's played out, thats probably what happened.Overall this is one of those rare movies that I can not find one good thing about it. For me to say that, that says a lot. Avoid this film at all costs.

The trailer looked interesting. The premise seemed enticing. The first 15 minutes of the film confirmed my previous assumptions...and then the plot unfolded, fumbled, and ultimately performed a well- executed face-plant. The basic premise is a family who have recently suffered the tragic loss of their daughter, whom had been kidnapped and murdered 10 days later. Fast-forward to the healing stages of grief; the husband and wife begin to heal and move to a beautiful new house. Well..a beautiful old house, rather. As the rules of spirit/ghost horror dictate; people who have recently suffered a tragic loss sometimes attract unseen forces..and so the movie actually begins. Cue spooky haunted house schtick. I should have seen it as an omen to find Sean Young (aka. Einhorn/Ray Finkle in Ace Ventura) as Laura, the main character. It's difficult to take her seriously after having seen her slap comedic swords with Jim Carrey, and true to form, she made me laugh more than scream in terror. Any nail-biting that was done on my part was due to the unbelievably predictable plot lines, unconvincing dialogue delivery and an apparent switch in film-grade quality half-way through the movie.There were too many gaping holes in this film to fully enjoy it. The ending provided no resolve, but did suggest that the entire premise for the film was all for nothing. Don't understand what I mean? If you can get as far as the end, it will all be clear. Otherwise, don't waste your time on this piece of garbage.

We rented this through Redbox and it was not worth the $1 we paid. The music was obnoxious and loud, the acting was bad in almost every scene, and it wasn't even remotely close to being a horror/scary movie. Not to mention that at the end when she says they're moving to Aberdeen, Oregon, she's incorrect. There is no such place as Aberdeen, Oregon. It's Aberdeen, Washington.This is one of those movies that you start watching and then you end up doing other things while it plays, like laundry, washing the dog, etc. The only part of the movie worth watching was the very end, and the scenes with M. Emmet Walsh.

Failures of police investigation,(maybe),failure of parents.Questionly ending,but this film is not irritating.Also I have to say,sometimes rather a dark comedy,like a ghost story.Basic plot has well known elements,but for me personally was not irritating.Moral choices:revenge,should you do something,if you know the truth is not what law,and a judge leaves in the court room as a fact.Do you know the truth ?Or you just think the truth is what you think.This film is all the way better like most of television filmsI rented this,just to have some fun if I can not watch this on television,as a choice like this it was not bad,but if you know how low budget movies wants take your attention,you have to,and you will pay for it.5/10