A Haunting in Salem
A Haunting in Salem
R | 23 August 2011 (USA)
A Haunting in Salem Trailers

When the new sheriff of Salem, Massachusetts discovers that he is the victim of a centuries-old curse, he must protect his family from the vengeful ghosts that torment his home.

Reviews
ada the leading man is my tpye
Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
Platypuschow A haunting in Salem is anything but original. Full of your standard horror tropes and clichés you'll have seen every bit of it before but done a whole hell of a lot better.Telling the story of a Sheriff and his family moving into a house with a dark past connected to witches (It is Salem after all) You'll see every scene coming a mile off and despite the budget very little of it even looks remotely good.The Good: Courtney Abbiati The Bad: Clichéd everything Things I learnt from this movie: A throw from a 3 story window will merely wind you
GL84 Arriving in a small town, a sheriff and his family find the new house they've moved into is the home to a ravenous ghost that was initially burned alive as a witch in the town's past and tries to get them out of the creature's wrath before succumbing to its rampage.This here wasn't that bad of an effort. One of the better features here comes from the film taking place in the typically creepy and chilling house which manages to utilize a great mixture of both the classic and more modern elements. The main house, full of the creaking wooden hallways and panels, sharp corners and the general air of history seeping through the walls really looks like the appropriate old- school, historically chilling house that maintains a suitable setting for the modern appliances that are at play here. Those more modern influences, from their ability to interact with the teens over the computer messenger or appearing to manipulate their visions, really begins to drive him insane as these tactics come off really well. These deliver some great hauntings as the scene of them pulling the hair from the shower drain with a tooth embedded in it, the gagging daughter hallucination or the different flash visions that keep occurring around the house showing them strung u in a hanging-style scenario which springs up quite often here to torment him. These scenes here provide the great framework for the actions leading up to the big finale in the actions of the possessed over the rest of the family which gives this one some great scenes of her utilizing the supernatural antics to attack and torment the others by popping up around them or launching attacks that are really much more impressive than expected to generate some nice bloody deaths immersed into the fine action. These here are what really works, though there's a few flaws to be found here. The biggest issue to be found is the really weak and half-hearted storyline that manages to be quite a cliché as well as goes for the cop-out explanation of everything which makes for a wholly simplistic affair. What should've been a thrilling exploration of the history of the house and the things going bump inside is instead glossed over in such a quick fashion that it really loses a lot of potential here by simply spelling everything out in one quick scene gives this one quite a lame buildup. It really could've given this one a greater sense of fear and suspense had this one gone for a more realistic route that allowed for the film to pace itself a little more. Even more to the point is the way this one goes for the overly familiar route of the ghostly haunting being presented here, from the troubled figure driven insane by what's going on to the point of madness against the disbelief of his family, the townsfolk who know it all and the ghosts coming back to seek revenge on such wrong-doers which gets targeted by their rampage all being quite familiar elements that are at play here, and all told the story here is quite disappointing. As well, the low-budget look here is another factor to hold this one back, from the cramped-in feeling of the house and the early attack scenes to the CGI and the effects in general this one tends to have the low-budget feel that's hard to get over. These here are the film's flaws.Rated R: Language and Violence.
petit76 This movie is a flat-out a big time waster. I really did not know what the director of this movie up to while helming it. The scenery starts off on the wrong foot by depicting somewhere not Salem as Salem. There are orange trees in the yard and I wonder if they have any geographical knowledge regarding the growth of oranges. I never knew and would never ever know Salem had actually the Mediterranean climate where you can grow oranges and bananas. Anyway I don't even find it necessary to even blabber things about this movie cause nothing is plausible. Poor acting and poor directing. The plot holes are too deep you can drive a dirt bike through. I would never ever recommend this movie to my worst arch enemy. I don't even know what the director thought with the lead cast of this movie. It is absolutely the worst scary movie ever . 0.1 out of 10.00
frompkin This is a terrible film. One, it's not actually filmed in Salem (a minor quibble, but you'd think they'd hide the orange trees in the yard). Two, it's not scary. Third, and finally, the production values were horrible. For example: the sheriff is digging in the yard and it's daylight, while the mother comforts the daughter at the same time and the windows are completely dark (as in, it's night time). Additionally, why kill the historian? She shows up twice; once to hand out a "welcome packet" to the family, and when she returns, boils her face in water and then the body disappears. Why?? She must have been dating someone or just needed the screen time to get credit or something. The actors did a decent enough job with the material, but the editing was bad, the script was bad.. I wouldn't even recommend this for "bad movie night".In the end, the film comes off as a college project, not a sequel to the "A Haunting in.." series. The concept was good, but I can definitely see why this film went straight to video. It was pretty much craptastic. Better luck to all the actors in their future endeavors, and hopefully they can stay away from this kind of drek in the future. I guess everyone has to start out somewhere.