Haunter

 

This “if you blinked, you missed it” horror film that emerged briefly in October of 2013 (maybe, you saw a Direct Tv commercial for its VOD, “catch it the same time as it appears in theaters” release, which brought this to my attention) has teenager Abigail Breslin (some consider her a rising star in the horror genre after her hit film (starring Halle Berry), The Call actually made surprise box office bank) starring as a victim of a serial killer in 1985 reliving a specific day with her father, mother, and brother over and over.

**½

 

That serial killer continues to “haunt” Breslin’s Lisa, warning her to not pursue “escape from limbo” or he will hurt her and her family with a severe punishment. Lisa realizes that the killer (veteran Stephen McHattie, who can portray these menacing parts in his sleep and walk away with a film) “occupies” (maybe “preys upon” is better?) the human bodies of fathers, causing them to volcanically outburst until he successfully destroys the lives of the living even after death (he died in ’83).

 

Lisa will need to first convince her family to accept their deaths in order to move on, and then attempt to rescue a family currently living in their house. McHattie’s Edgar doesn’t want Lisa to shake apart this repetitive, never-ending, eternal cycle; this façade that allows Edgar to continually prey on the living because no one “existing where he is” will put an end to his “terror from beyond the grave”. This will need to be shattered if Lisa is to stop him.

The point of dark spirits terrorizing families in the house that was (and continues to be) his domain is at the heart of what drives this “paranormal mystery thriller”, and because McHattie can effortlessly conjure sinister with relative ease when on screen (or just through a reptilian smile or that voice so rich with malevolence), Haunter isn’t a total waste of time.

Haunter has The Others written all over it (except a sunnier conclusion for this family left tragically adrift until Lisa stood up against the boogeyman), and it is most definitely a PG-13 thriller I can only imagine with get picked up by Lifetime Movie Channel to show in a line-up of horror films (they have recently followed a trend towards showing haunted house and psychopath thrillers of this variety on the network to appeal to a broader audience than just the female demographic interested in made-for-cable stuff starring fading television/movie stars) eventually. I liked Breslin here. I did. She has range which is definitely needed in horror if actresses are certain to keep our attention when films ask us to invest in their mission to escape the clutches of evil. She benefits exponentially from McHattie’s antagonist. A good antagonist goes a long way to setting up a developing terror scenario and fitting conclusion that sees him terminated from any more wrongdoing, whether in life or death committing his horrible deeds.

 

This film does remind me of Onryo films where a haunting leads to the finalization of a long-term paranormal problem that manifests and torments until the truth is realized. In Haunter, it is Edgar's activities. He was responsible for the murder of his own parents, kidnapping and murders of teenage girls around the area where he lives, and even after dying his handiwork with ether hadn't stopped (he tells Lisa that his targets still become "part of his collection"). The perfect murder masquerading as a father killing his family and himself; the preposterous notion that a ghost is inhabiting that father and causing all that provides Edgar with the perfect scapegoat.
 

Saying all that, Haunter never felt like that big a deal which is why it never caught on fire, I guess, but it’s not badly made (nice photography and lighting that carefully establishes that the place for which Lisa exists has a sense of foreboding; captivating use of narrative in how Breslin’s Lisa “enters/exits” the modern day Olivia and sees through her body a whole other family and place; disorienting use of the camera to parlay how off Lisa’s current status inside her torturous abode truly is; enchanting close ups of Breslin’s face often expressively concerned/bewildered/frustrated/desperate) or acted, so those are pluses in its favor. Not necessarily all that memorable, and I’m pretty sure after a few days Haunter will slide into the fading abyss of my attention, into oblivion. So am I endorsing the film? Sort of. Not a bad experience, but Haunter isn’t what I consider lasting.