Conjure Me a Creepy Jack In The Box Please. Please!

Rating: 4/10 (25 October 2013)

Spoiler Alert. Enjoy the movie if you don't want another's opinion before you watch.
Where does "Based on a true story" mean that a director can take such liberties as to make a compelling story implausible?
Like the couple that take their obviously psychotic child up to an isolated and potentially hostile environment in "The Shining," what could possess these parents to stay in a house where their children are experiencing harmful events? What is their cure? Bring in paranormal investigators.
Here's the problem: If the events were really as dramatic and frequent as those depicted, rational parents would have fled that place during the first week. If the events were really that stark, proof of ghosts would be a fait accompli and the National Inquirer would have to pay the reward. So, we know the movie is dramatized BS.
However, the story is compelling and surely something happened and that would have been compelling in itself.
But one is stuck wondering why people would stay in a house where harmful things are happening to one of the parents and the children (All girls by the way.) with regularity. By the time they leave the house, things have gotten beyond the pale so to speak.
The acting of all parties is pretty good and the performances are convincing but since these movies are predicated on supposedly rational people doing stupid things, This movie fits the bill exactly. Here is a daughter who is supposedly attacked but the parents seem completely oblivious. After they find her fighting a ??? and the other children seeing the thing, they obliviously ignore the incident. What? Child Protective Services wasn't nearly as intruding in 1971 as it is now but a sheriff's report would have alerted someone somewhere to investigate this family.
Somewhere in this mess is a conflict with the mother and daughters that could be a compelling line of inquiry but is never pursued as an avenue by either the investigators or the director. It would be interesting to discover how prevalent the "attacks" really were because something was obviously happening. Like the original "Carrie" movie being somewhat based around a girl discovering her menus and that sets off a series of events. One wonders what normal physical process might have been the genesis of these supposed "demonic" events.
Does demonic possession exist? The Catholic church has exorcists but real "proof" is still illusive despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary. How to prove it though.
Television has plenty of "Ghost Hunter" type shows because people are interested in seeing nothing dramatized by Bubba and Francine who are ever so brave that they face nothing. But the hope is there. Of far more interest are the "Ghostbreakers" posers from the "Supernatural" series. These wannabes are probably closer to the truth of ghost hunting than not.
One more thing. What is is about these movies where single women/girls walk into danger slowly? At least the father was realistic: He turned on all the lights and burst into a room to startle the demon/ghost/spectre/whatever might be lurking in the room. Girls, it seems have to walk slowly until they back into something.