Behind the Wall (2008)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

A Major Disappointment

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Katelyn Parks returns to the sleepy town that she had lived in the past to attend a town meeting over the fate of the lighthouse her family had owned for years after a letter invited her there. But she discovers that the letter inviting her was forged. The lighthouse hasn't been occupied since 1987 when her mother was killed by a mysterious presence that her father took the blame for. She visits the lighthouse to collect her old belongings but is warned by the deputy mayor & his developers not to cause any trouble since the lighthouse is due for a restoration as part of an ambitious plan to redevelop the site for a large golf park & ski field. She doesn't want the development to go ahead & joins the local priest in condemning it. But they don't have to cause any trouble themselves – a pair of workers accidentally open a locked door in the basement, releasing a ghost that had been after the Parks family for years & who the priest knew personally & is hiding a secret over it. The ghost proceeds to pick off the workers on the site.Behind the Wall is a 2007 B-grader ghost story that was made in Canada during the country's boom in cheap genre works at the time. The film can be considered a sort of knock-off of the John Carpenter classic The Fog but with the story confined to a lighthouse & given the format of a slasher film.The film is a pretty average ghost story, nothing more. The story is economical & has very little in the way of innovation for the genre at all. But it is still pretty reasonable for the horror genre & the story is still interesting although the rationale for the ghost's haunting & some of the characters' motivations are a little contrived. Lindy Booth & James Thomas do a passable job of the lead characters & Lawrence Dane is suitably grim as the old priest who has a guilty secret relating to the ghost haunting the lighthouse.

Called back to her hometown after years being away, a woman finds that her connection to a storied lighthouse in town which initially caused her to leave is unleashing a torrent of ghostly activity on those nearby and must race to stop it before it engulfs the town.This one was a pretty bland and overall decent effort. The film's best qualities stem from the continuous usage of the central location here, as the lighthouse setting featured is quite chilling and seems like the ideal location upon which to string these kinds of horror surroundings from. Given the rather chilling mark of being abandoned for years following the original disaster, there's the dirty, moldy setting here that combined with the really enjoyable layout and hidden compartments within the house that cause this to really have an eerie layer to it that gives this plenty of enjoyable qualities exploring this set-up. That the film's two biggest scenes, the flashback revelation of what happened to her mother getting dragged into the darkness behind the open wall and the eerie stalking of the photographers into the basement pit manage to come off with a great sense of thrilling action as well as really taking advantage of the location with the scenes coming off as the real highlights here by managing to come off as well as they do here. Likewise, there's plenty of fun here with how this one builds up the mystery of the lighthouse here b showing off the different mysterious events of the past and how they're all slowly disappearing one-by-one around the area which really starts the investigation into this and finally putting the pieces together which requires the big final resolution here that comes off quite fun and enjoyable. That's really all that work here for this one as this one does have some pretty big problems. The biggest problem is how little on-screen action really revolves around the actual haunting as the majority of time here is spent on other elements that hold this one down. As there's a large portion of time spent here on being welcomed back to town and trying to find out the reason for her summoning, it makes for a rather long time before we get any kind of true scares to develop here, and by continuing on the troubled past that she has to figure out while running those other story lines we don't get very many chances for scares past that point either and the whole thing feels rather long and dreary here with only the continuous shots of the atmospheric lighthouse to carry this one along. The other big problem here is the film's usage of one of the most appalling and utterly infuriating storyline tactics, having a character that is fully aware of the dangers and problems associated with the current situation keep that information to themselves in the face of overwhelming evidence that revealing it will save countless lives. Numerous times throughout here he could've easily prevented more deaths from occurring simply by actively sharing his knowledge with others, considering they're involved and wouldn't have had a hard time believing his story once they hear it and piece it together with what's going on. This is a truly irritating ploy that's continued in here, and really helps to lower this one along with its other problems.Rated PG-13: Violence and Language.

I don't know if this movie was intended as a remake, but I couldn't help but notice that this movie reminds me a lot of the late 60's B movie called the Shuddered Room with Carol Lynnly and Gig Young. Location in New England, lighthouse, mysterious person hidden away, young woman comes back home after leaving as a child, parents dead, flashbacks, and an old person dying in a fire at the end with the ghost/ creature. Way too many similarities. This movie wasn't scary at all, and I was able to actually predict the ending due to my assumption that this was a remake of the Shuddered Room. The Shuddered Room is a rarely seen anymore, but its story line is much better and creepier.

There was NOT one intense moment to this film. Matter of fact, the actors weren't even scared! No pulse-gripping or jaw-dropping parts, no suspense, no shock, no yelling at the screen...no nothing. It was as suspenseful as watching a maggot squirm out of a rotten apple and as interesting as watching a stray cat dig through my garbage, seriously. I read somewhere where 2 ppl said this movie was a good watch, no sir. I had to keep stuffing my mouth to stay awake while everyone else dozed in & out of the film. The acting by James Thomas, who played opposite of Lindy most of the time, was so dry and bad that I actually felt sorry for the pretty red head actress, whom at least put up effort on some parts. Unfortunately though, her acting wasn't consistent, creative or powerful enough to carry the film. Lawrence Dane, who played Father Hendry, proved to be a professional actor and convincing. The acting by others & the storyline was dry & shabby for even television, and I don't know how to make it any clearer than that. Matter of fact, the synopsis I wrote is more interesting than the film itself. I hung in hoping it would kick into high gear somewhere down the line. It never did. And, the blood on the bodies came from long scratches. That's it, that's all folks. If you have a weak-stomach, this is not going to faze you. One huge plot hole was in the main plot. The killer ghost who ended up killing ppl w/ cat scratches..lol, claimed he was 'innocent' of any crime when he himself was murdered. That was suppose to be the clincher & his lame excuse for clawing a few ppl to death, which we don't get to see until someone finds them. Everyone living ends up sympathizing w/ him, "yet" everyone seemed to forget, once he's died he became a pain in the arse murderer!