Weekly Review -- Ghastly ghosties

The Apparition (2012) -- There are two kinds of bad horror films -- those that do not even try and those that do, but fail to follow through on their initial promise. Todd Lincoln's The Apparition belongs in the latter category, setting up an interesting story, but not letting it develop beyond the confines of stilted writing.

A college parapsychology experiment goes very wrong, seemingly releasing a supernatural being into the world. Soon afterward, a young couple -- Kelly (Ashley Greene) and Ben (Sebastian Stan) -- start noticing strange occurrences around their house. Mold gathers in unlikely places, furniture gets rearranged, pets start dying... think Paranormal Activity without the charm. When they start investigating, Kelly and Ben get help, but will they be too late to save themselves?

The film starts out as an intriguing tale, playing out as the love child of The Entity and Chronicle. The naturalistic style of direction creates an atmosphere of collision between tranquility and dread, making the characters relatable. Soon, though, the narrative falls to pieces, mostly due to the lack of scares and a screenplay that never goes deeper into the demon/ghost/whatever's origin. The film does not build up its chills; it merely lists them, going through the motions and dragging out its sequences. I already mentioned Paranormal Activity, which had a pervading sense of nihilistic terror that crept into every nook of the cursed couple's house and every realm of their life. Its ambiance served the purpose of making that story's entity seem malevolent from the start. We knew it was not to be trusted and not to be toyed with; we knew that, in the words of one of the characters, it was in control. Contrary to the Oren Peli film, The Apparition does not realize its potential. Its own specter seems to be playing hide-and-seek with Kelly and Ben, popping up here and there and acknowledging its presence, rather than launching a full-on offensive. Furthermore, the sudden and murky ending feels like a cheap version of another recent horror film's conclusion.

The acting is relatively convincing. At the same time, the performers are not given much to work with, being saddled with cliché lines such as "what does it want from us" and "it knows you're afraid". Greene would make for a good horror heroine in a better film; here, for the most part, she is relegated to looking scared and prancing around in her underwear. Stan, who was terrific in last summer's shrewd "Political Animals", has almost nothing to do here, although he does manage to infuse Ben with nuanced emotion on occasion. Finally, Tom Felton gives it his all, but is unable to escape the script's monotonous lack of ingenuity.    

With an edgier screenplay and bolder twists, The Apparition could have been a fresh, if not inspired, horror entry. Instead, it misses its mark. One can clearly see that Lincoln is a genre fan, but he needs meatier writing to work with and more daring situations to immerse himself in as a filmmaker. I am looking forward to his future films, but I am sorry to report that this one is far from a masterpiece.      

3/10