Sunday, September 28, 2008

The Haunting of Julia

Plot 10 out of 20
Julia's daughter dies at the breakfast table, Julia has a nervous breakdown and leaves her husband, buying a house and trying to start a new life on her own. Unfortunately, the house she's moved in to is haunted by dead children. I have to admit, I have a thing for the older, 70's era horror films. They're a bit... classier? Not as scary, but definitely spookier. And besides this, I've never seen Mia Farrow in anything but Rosemary's Baby, which leads me to the theory: Mia Farrow is the Original Scream Queen?

Big Bad 5 out of 20
So there's this little girl that had a group of boys that she ordered to kill cats, and dogs, and eventually, a kid. She also taught them about sex? Then her mother killed her and she haunts a house, still killing people. She's bad, but she doesn't make a huge impact on the movie, if that makes any sense.

Hero 0 out of 20
As far as I can tell, there is no hero. Mia Farrow looked like she was the hero, but then she opted to... join the little girl in death?

Effects 3 out of 20
Fantastic use of suspense, and off camera calamity. Also, creepy ass, cymbal banging clown toy = not cool.

Bonus 2 out of 20
Hard left with the remaining boy (now grown) telling Julia about the murderous little group.

Total Points 20 out of 100

Final Judgement Worth it.
It's apparently a classic. Not as good as Rosemary's Baby, to put it in perspective. It's worth it if you have nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon. Don't spend money on it though.