The Haunting of Molly Hartley (DVD, 2009, Checkpoint; Sensormatic; Widescreen)

I'm sorry to say, if this film was supposed to invoke any feeling other than disgust, it failed miserably. The title of this film was so totally misleading. We are supposed to believe that this teenage girl was haunted? It turns out, that after 90 minutes of trying to make sense of it all, our main character turns out to be just another pretty white kid with satanic problems.

If you want to know what watching this movie is like, combine the following:

-A "noisy shocker" jump scare at least once every 7 1/2 minutes. Jump scares are like when the foley artist turns up the sound about 2 decibels above normal on the recorder and waits for a really tense quite moment of reflection. At that point, they then throw in something like a train speeding by immediately honking at you when passing, or a loud barking dog, or something like a group of birds suddenly taking off in a burst of chaos. Overusing this is a sure indication that the film is obviously uninspiring and boring.

-A disgustingly sappy high school teen atmosphere. Complete with the sassy and rebellious cool girl (Shannon Woodward), handsome and charismatic romantic interest (Chace Crawford), a jealous girlfriend, and all the drama you might find in any teen show on TV. Rich and cute white teens all around, for your viewing pleasure.

-About 20 minutes of plot. The rest of the movie deals with the stereotypical problems of the modern rich and white high school teens. The first and last 10 minutes is where the plot takes place - the entire middle of this movie goes absolutely nowhere. Although the film ends, I felt like I ordered up a Whopper at Burger King, but instead, wound up with a half eaten chicken nugget.

-A lazy and transparent religious undertone. We get it. Just accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or else. Everyone else will let you down. What else can you expect from screenwriters these days.

-A plot twist so mind-numbingly ridiculous and frustrating, that it will leave you with a plethora of questions (not good philosophical questions, but questions like "what just happened?". This feeling makes you angry and makes you wonder why in the world the writer, director, producer actually wasted their time making this movie. Of course the only thing you can point your finger at and say is, well, because they got paid to deliver this abomination of a movie and ruin my brain just because they could. Well, trash is trash, but at least it was presented in a respectful manner.

-An abomination of a screenplay: Let's all make up a non-sense story about a teenage girl who has powers from Satan and we'll put her in high school with other pretty people while she is undergoing hardships of being a teenager. Even though the story in no way provokes us, we have a Zac Efron look-a-like (Chace Crawford), so we're going to get a huge female teen audience and they'll love this film.

-A Totally possessive father (Jake Weber) who should have been committed at the beginning of the film instead of the end. Although his acting totally rocked, his character didn't add any realistic evil tension to the film, just making his role a nuisance to watch.

+I really dug the scene where the estranged mother fell off the top of the staircase. That scene looked extremely real. If they had just made Molly a murderer who pushed people off of building, the movie would have rocked.

+Dr. Emerson (Nina Siemaszka) was superb in this film. It's too bad she turned out to be demonic in the end.

This is not exactly the worst film in the world, but it doesn't really qualify as a horror movie. Most of the cast comes from TV shows like Gossip Girl and 90210...and this film is kind of like a Halloween episode of one of those shows. If you're into that, OK. Molly's efforts to cope with a new school while worrying about whether she'll inherit her mother's insanity, then undergoing surgery for a sinus tumor and feeling attracted to the most popular guy at school, are entertaining enough, if you like teen soap opera. Molly's father is played by Jake Weber from the TV show MEDIUM. Ironically, an average episode of Medium is scarier, bloodier, and has more supernatural elements than THE HAUNTING OF MOLLY HARTLEY. The Satanic scene thrown in near the end is more offensive than horrifying. Molly protests that you always have a choice between good and evil. The Satanic cult tells her she doesn't. Molly decides to go with the flow....all the cool, popular kids at school are Satanists, so why fight it? If this had been played for laughs, or if Molly had been able to convey the emotion of, say, Mia Farrow in ROSEMARY'S BABY, this plot might have worked. As it is, I didn't much care whether Molly and her pretty teenybopper friends lived or died. The only one I felt sorry for was Jake Weber. Molly's father does not deserve what happens to him in this movie, and Jake the actor should have known better than to take this job.

Where do I begin...THIS MOVIE SUCKS! I'm a HUGE horror movie fan, so I always check my cynicism at the door when I rent or pay to watch this genre. Like I said in the title, it's a train wreck...it starts out okay but never picks up steam and ends in a firey crash that leaves you emotionally and psychologically eviscerated. The cast is mediocre at best, the acting is bland and the dialogue doesn't do this flick any favors(I know...it's a teen horror movie and I shouldn't complain). But, I've seen some great horror movies with a great cast and bad dialogue(Twilight) or a terrible cast and a great script(anything by Clive Barker). With this movie there's not a single redeeming grace. I recognized the kid from Gossip Girl(not Chuck Bass) and the girl from 90210, Nip/Tuck. Neither of these tweens could carry a B movie...especially of this low budget caliber. The film had potential but never evolved. I can't remember the last time I was this bored watching a horror movie. And the ending has the audacity to make room for a sequel...that's just plain arrogant and ostentatious. Do not add this movie to your collection! Buy "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", "A Haunting in Connecticut" or any other combinations of the words in this movie...just don't buy THIS movie...and don't watch it either!

Me and my family like to watch scary movies. This movie was pretty good. You try to guess the ending all the way through the movie. was not as scary as I thought.

I really enjoyed this movie. I found the plot-line exciting and interesting. This movie puts an interesting twist on the typical "haunting" movie, it seems like a pretty original story.