Obvious regarding the genre standards but still effective and surprisingly chilling

Rating: Null/10 (25 May 2014)

I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to watching this film – it sat in my queue for quite some time and never appealed. The plot is your standard ghost story / haunted house fare – a tragedy which has resulted in lingering horrors which a new person in town doesn't fully appreciate but, when he does, he tries to make up for the past to make it all stop. There is detail around this but essentially this is what it is and at its base it is familiar. The delivery follows a similar path in terms of what it does, because we have creepy children, creepy dolls, lots of shadows, static figures and half-seen movements.
All of this is very much of the genre but yet it is still effective and I was surprised by just how frightening parts of it were – it more than earns the 12A certificate it got in the UK because for sure the intensity and unnerving aspects of it do more than gore or language would do. The film opens with a strong scene of three children who seem compelled to calmly throw themselves to their death out of an attic window. From here the creepiness continues in a similar, understated manner in the way a good ghost story should. Okay it is not breaking new ground with half-seen faces in windows and lots of jump scares as things happen, but it still works well. I watched it with headphones and the impact of the sound design is also important – while it of course does the sudden noises well, the silence is very well captured because it is not just "no noise" but rather the stillness of waiting for something to happen.
Radcliffe leads the film well, convincing in his performance and making for a likable lead – although he has his Potter fame, he doesn't overplay here and (for me at least) his fame didn't distract from me getting into the film. He is well supported by good turns from the supporting cast, but the main work comes from the production design as the house is creepy and is well filmed, lit and captured to have a tangible sense of dread and presence – this is what makes the film as enjoyable as it was. It is still a genre film for sure, but it is one that works well with plenty of atmosphere, chills and scares.