Ashley Greene takes the lead in a film that is somehow worse than Twilight. The Apparition is the humourless, horrorless tale of Kelly and Ben (Sebastian Stan), who are renting an “investment home” from her parents. When increasingly spooky stuff starts to happen in the house, Ben has to come clean: he and his college friend Patrick (Tom Felton) once tried to replicate a paranormal experiment where they focused and amplified their concentration on summoning a spirit. They succeeded – and Ben’s previous girlfriend paid the price. Patrick arrives with ghostbusting gear to try to reverse the process, to no avail.
This film was pretty dull, and the blame can be laid almost entirely on the script by freshman writer/director Todd Lincoln. The film is short, tips its hand at the beginning, and squanders the few opportunities it has for true suspense. It is like watching a remake of Poltergeist based on a script outline from someone who has only ever heard about Poltergeist.
There are ways to make compelling low-key horror films, as recently evidenced by The Innkeepers or Silent House. The filmmakers could also have gone way over the top, like Drag Me To Hell or The Cabin in the Woods. The Apparition is just bland, and a waste of time.
It’s too bad that this movie seemed so dull. I was considering going to see the movie later, but I’m glad I caught this review. It stinks because the trailer promoted The Apparition very well. One of my Dish coworkers who saw the trailer also thought it’d be good. I will probably wait until it comes out on DVD and add it to my Blockbuster @Home queue to have it mailed to me. I think I will see The Possession this weekend instead! Great read!