The Haunting of Whaley House (2012) Reviews

• Great haunting movie...

  paul_haakonsen2012-07-25

  For a presentation from The Asylum, then "The Haunting of Whaley House" was really one amazing movie. I remember seeing some, well lets just call them questionable movies from The Asylum in the past, but they do manage to throw a curveball every now and then and put out something with real entertainment value. And "The Haunting of Whaley House" was just one such incident. The movie was actually rather entertaining, and it did have the occasional scary moment here and there, but in overall it wasn't a scary movie as per se. To me, it was more in the likes of a supernatural thriller that was heavily driven by the story itself and not the actual scares. I must admit that I am not familiar with the actual story behind the Whaley house, but having seen this movie it has put a seed in the soil so to speak, having sparked an interest in learning more about the actual Whaley house and its story. The story in "The Haunting of Whaley House" is about a group of young people who venture into the haunted Whaley house, despite having been thoroughly warned not to. Of course some of the youngsters are skeptical about the possibility of the house actually being haunted and not just being a tourist fraud, while others are believers. The night hours grow long as the strange occurrences inside the house amplifies and becomes more and more threatening. Perhaps there is something to the haunted stories after all? The effects in the movie were adequate for a movie of this budget. They were used effectively although with moderation. But it did work out well enough and helped added to the suspense of the movie. As for the acting, well most of the people hired for the various roles were doing good enough jobs, however, I personally didn't care much for the performance that Howard McNair (playing the psychic Keith Drummond) put on, he was too mellowed out and seemed like tripping on shrooms. But of course, that is a matter of personal taste and preference. But aside from that, then I think people did good enough jobs with their roles. The house itself, although not actually filmed in the actual Whaley house, was actually a nice touch. Lots of nice details and small things that you spot here and there. The feel of the house and the mood there was really great and helped added to the atmosphere of the movie. Had they failed to create something less here, the movie would have been a whole other experience. "The Haunting of Whaley House" is a good movie that is entertaining and just the right amount of spooky and creepy without venturing into being a downright horrorfest. Well worth a watch if you like movie about hauntings, and if you are tired of the hyped up hand-held camera ghost movies that are supposed to be based on real occurrences.

• Mixed feelings

  crazycow-843-4044562012-07-27

  A group of friends decides to stay a night at the Whaley House (known for it's real life hauntings). This movie confused me, not because of the story, but mainly the acting. As i started watching this, i wasn't sure if this was gonna be a comedy or a horror movie (classic haunted house horror), or a mix of both, to me it was a mix, even thou it was suppose to be a serious take on a real life haunted house, i felt the characters were a joke. The story is based on the real Whaley house (no... they did not film it there), there is not much to say... except, group of friends goes into house, house is haunted, done. Let me get to the acting, i didn't like it, something felt wrong, it wasn't bad acting, nor was it good, it felt out of place for a movie like this, sure... some gave in a decent effort, others did not, which made it hard for me to watch this. The directing and script had a lot to blame for this overall mess, it just wasn't scary, it wasn't gory, it had no suspense, to me... it felt like a daytime drama with horror elements in it. Overall, sub par acting, sub par directing, bad script, could of been a good movie... since it was basing it's idea from the most haunted house in the USA, But failed in every way to deliver us a good watch. Final verdict - 4 out of 10, i cannot recommend this movie to anyone. (i also think me giving this movie a 4 out of 10 is being very kind to it, i probably should give it a 3, but i'm a niice guy)

• Better than most Asylum films

  tenfilms-310-1869052012-11-09

  I wasn't expecting much from this once I saw that it was made from the people at The Asylum but I was pleasantly surprised. The movie itself wasn't really scary and the ghost makeup wasn't the best but for a movie that was shot in 12 days it kept me mildly entertained. Two things really bugged me though. The one actress with the pig tails was horrible. She was brutal to watch while she tried to act. The second thing is the final girl at the end never noticed the picture sitting in the front waiting area that had the picture of the girl who looked like her. How can you have worked there for four months giving tours and never noticed the picture or had a tour guest point it out? I can honestly say that this was a step up for the Asylum and would like to see them continue with a higher level of films.

• If you like B grade haunting movies this might be for you

  mognam2012-08-01

  I enjoyed the introduction to this movie, although it had me thinking it was going to be a horror, comedy at first. Other reviews have complained about the acting. OK, some of it was bad but I have seen much worse on higher budget films. While watching I had to remind myself that they only had a budget of a little over $100,000 to make this. I think they did a reasonable job considering this. The most annoying part of this film was when the characters reacted in ways you surely would not under the circumstances they faced. The ending made the movie worth the effort to watch in my opinion. I like B horror movies and found this mildly entertaining. I had two friends watching it who don't like B horrors and they clearly did not enjoy themselves.

• Not So bad

  john-gregorio432012-08-06

  This movie was OK. What i liked about it, as well as what i have read from other reviews is that it wasn't one of those home-video style movies. Those movies are quickly becoming old news and are growing tiresome. The acting was not the best in the world, however it was not terrible. I gave this a 7/10 based on the fact the the story behind the Whaley house is actually fairly interesting to read, and this movie added a great twist to it. The ending was fairly good, played out the storyline well. I would recommend this movie to people if they are looking for a scary movie that is not the typical Hollywood CGI fest of computer crap. This movie has its scenes but also has a pretty good story. Enjoy!!