Almost Great

Rating: 6/10 (3 August 2013)

This movie is not your usual throwaway trashy slash flick built strictly to take money from teenagers with nothing better to do. It has all the under pinning to be a horror great. Was it full of cliché? Yeah. Clearly this was part of the design, so it didn't bother me. But despite the fact that they did the detailed work to make it look like 1971, despite the great cast, they tell you it's November in Rhode Island and the leaves are full and green in the trees. That's just one example of the laziness that plagues this almost great horror flick. Just have a clue and call it September! There are so many details that just don't get integrated into a coherent whole. Where the locket come from? Did it come from the high security room full of "manipulated objects?" If not where? And what is the point? And who was sitting with the doll in that room? This movie threatens to be very dark in a few spots and, well, . . . it's Hollywood where the East Coast is just a foreign vision where the leaves are green in November. Was there a more interesting original story that got chewed up and digested for the screenplay babyfood? See this movie and enjoy it. But prepare for nagging and unnecessary disappointment.