Abbey Grace (2016) Directed by Stephen Durham
It's true that in a way all horror movies are the same and that especially goes for low-budget ones. Instead of creative and original, most movies are too much alike, without having anything in them that makes them standout. And sometimes that still fine, as long as the movie is a well done genre attempt. This however more often than not isn't the case with these low-budget productions, with this movie unfortunately as no exception.
It's hard to tell what's worse about this film; the story or the execution. Both are incredibly problematic, which makes this a below average genre attempt. And calling this movie 'below average' is still generous. It in a lot of ways is worse than that, which can't all be simply blamed on just its limited budget.
The movie is terribly made, with an awful pace, acting and handling of all the horror ingredients in it. The movie fails at creating any good tension and mystery, which sure is mostly due to its writing but also most definitely to the poor handling. The editing, camera-work and directing genuinely ruin some of the 'scare moments' and the very little potential the movie still had in it. It's actually a quite laughable movie at parts, to be honest. Some of the effects, for instance, are quite good, while some of the others are absolutely horrendous and unintentionally funny. Needless to say it takes away most credibility, tension and scares from the movie.
Main problem with the story, besides from not making an awful lot of sense, is that for the longest time there is no clear threat and/or 'villain'. But once the story kicks in, things don't get much better for the movie. It's messy, nonsensical and far from anything remotely surprising or original. It doesn't help much that the main characters are terribly written. One of the characters actually comes across as a creep, rather than a sympathetic one. Hard to say whether this was deliberate or not but in any case, it just doesn't work out very well for the movie. It's also odd how the two main characters are supposed to be brother and sister, while they look absolutely nothing alike and have little to no chemistry. Terrible casting. None of the actors also never seem genuinely scared at anything, so why should the viewers be?
Once you look back at things, the movie really doesn't become much better. The whole haunting aspect doesn't make a lot of sense but to be fair, it rarely does. I mean, if ghosts can push people and appear at random, than surely they should also be able to communicate and tell what they want, without being so darn cryptic and annoying all of the time.
Really not worth seeing, not even if you're really into the genre.
3/10
Watch trailer
It's hard to tell what's worse about this film; the story or the execution. Both are incredibly problematic, which makes this a below average genre attempt. And calling this movie 'below average' is still generous. It in a lot of ways is worse than that, which can't all be simply blamed on just its limited budget.
The movie is terribly made, with an awful pace, acting and handling of all the horror ingredients in it. The movie fails at creating any good tension and mystery, which sure is mostly due to its writing but also most definitely to the poor handling. The editing, camera-work and directing genuinely ruin some of the 'scare moments' and the very little potential the movie still had in it. It's actually a quite laughable movie at parts, to be honest. Some of the effects, for instance, are quite good, while some of the others are absolutely horrendous and unintentionally funny. Needless to say it takes away most credibility, tension and scares from the movie.
Main problem with the story, besides from not making an awful lot of sense, is that for the longest time there is no clear threat and/or 'villain'. But once the story kicks in, things don't get much better for the movie. It's messy, nonsensical and far from anything remotely surprising or original. It doesn't help much that the main characters are terribly written. One of the characters actually comes across as a creep, rather than a sympathetic one. Hard to say whether this was deliberate or not but in any case, it just doesn't work out very well for the movie. It's also odd how the two main characters are supposed to be brother and sister, while they look absolutely nothing alike and have little to no chemistry. Terrible casting. None of the actors also never seem genuinely scared at anything, so why should the viewers be?
Once you look back at things, the movie really doesn't become much better. The whole haunting aspect doesn't make a lot of sense but to be fair, it rarely does. I mean, if ghosts can push people and appear at random, than surely they should also be able to communicate and tell what they want, without being so darn cryptic and annoying all of the time.
Really not worth seeing, not even if you're really into the genre.
3/10
Watch trailer
