The Beacon
The Beacon
| 25 October 2009 (USA)
The Beacon Trailers

While trying to get their lives back on track after the loss of their four year old son, Bryn and Paul Shaw move to the charming old Beacon Apartments. Bryn begins seeing a ghostly little boy skulking around the building. With the help of an eccentric young professor and a tough old beat cop, Bryn tries to uncover the details of the boy's death.

Reviews
Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.
Nonureva Really Surprised!
Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Leofwine_draca THE HAUNTING AT THE BEACON is a very ordinary ghost story about a grieving family who move into a new and haunted home. The scares are diluted and way too much of the screen time is taken up with lame dialogue, but I suppose as haunted house films go it could be worse. At least the film-makers avoid the usual clichés for the most part, but at the same time they deliver a film in which nothing really happens.Teri Polo and her on-screen husband play some dull-beyond-belief characters who don't deserve a movie to themselves because they hold zero interest. The only face who raises a smile is that of genre legend Michael Ironside, but sadly he gets very little screen time playing one of a number of cops. One of the notable scare sequences at the climax of the movie makes use of some special effects that had me laugh out loud rather than scared; they look like they belong in an old episode of the MONSTERS TV show rather than a supposedly serious horror flick...
Ben_teed I had high hopes for this movie, it has a couple of well known actors and a decent premise but overall it was very disappointing. The movie was predictable and not one bit scary or even creepy, it was a struggle to watch. For any hardcore horror movie fan, the ending will have you rolling you eyes. You can see every startling moment coming from a mile away not only from the music but also the overused look in the mirror then looking back at the mirror and there is a figure there or the camera pans over past the actor/actress to show a ghostly figure in the shadows. Less is more and suspense is everything in a genuinely scary movie, Never give away to much to fast or you will lose the suspense and the films ceases to be scary. Do yourself a favour and skip this bland horror movie.
sidecarsally I'd like to start off simply by saying that I think this movie is terrible. In my case, I fell asleep 35 minutes into it last night, and resumed watching it a few hours ago.When The Beacon was finished, I was filled with so many angry questions about the plot holes and terrible acting, I had to go outside and smoke a cigarette and scream into the night sky.I actually WANT you to watch this movie, so I can point out some basic flaws that come to mind. Just keep them in mind when watching the film. The following things in The Beacon annoyed me: 1) The woman cop's acting was more painful than getting my nipples pierced. I was wincing at every line she spoke. Try not to turn off the movie until you've seen her final scene. Just Wow.2) This movie SERIOUSLY does not get interesting until about the last 20 minutes. Until then, the ghost-story clichés were spread all over this plot like butter on a warm roll -- but The Beacon's butter is bad and will give you diarrhea, as it did for me.3) The LAST 20 minutes of this movie is completely absurd and contradicts the entire story up to that point. I had to re-watch it a few times just to confirm the plot holes. The ironic part is, these aren't really "plot holes" because it uses the "ghosts can do whatever they want whenever they want" formula. Using this formula, filmmakers can create incoherent films that succeed using common scare tactics that make the audience jump and then roll their eyes.The Beacon is like the Nickelback of ghost story horror films: Most people will probably like it. But if you do, you are probably of a lesser intelligence than me.
Claudio Carvalho The photographer Bryn (Teri Polo) and the astronomer Paul Shaw (David Rees Snell) moves to a small, but cozy one bedroom apartment in the Beacon Apartments in Texas to rebuild their lives. Three years ago, in Halloween, Bryn neglected attention to their son Danny that disappeared, apparently drown in a lake nearby a carnival. Bryn tried to commit suicide and Paul sacrificed his career to support her. In the relocation, the couple is helped by Bryn's sister Christina Wade (Marnette Patterson) that befriends the next door neighbor Will "Ty" Tyler (Nick Sowell). Paul finds a job in the local university and shares his office with the eccentric anthropologist Simon Valencia (Jonny Cruz). Along the days, Bryn has visions and nightmares with a ghostly boy and she decides to investigate how he died and seeks out his father James Nash (Kevin Scott Keating). Meanwhile Paul helps the decadent actress Vanessa Carver (Elaine Hendrix) but does not tell details to his wife. When Bryn discovers that James is also dead, she realizes that she had contacted ghosts in the building and tells Professor Simon, trying to find how to communicate with her diseased son. However, after his research, Simon finds the truth about the Beacon Apartments."The Beacon" is a well-constructed horror movie with a great story that recalled me the scary "The Sentinel" (1977). The excellent Teri Polo shines in the dramatic role of a grieving suicidal mother with guilty complex. This is the type of feature based on good direction, screenplay and performances, and the make-up and special effects are effective and used only when necessary. The plot point is totally unexpected, the story is very well resolved and the melancholic music score is wonderful. In the end, the refreshing "The Beacon" was a great surprise that startles and one of the best horror movies that I have seen this year. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Visões" ("Visions")