Secrets of the Summer House (2008)

Good movie but grossly overrated

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

SECRETS OF THE SUMMER HOUSE is another time-wasting television movie with subtle supernatural elements. Yet again it sees a couple visiting an ancestral home in the boondocks only to discover that the building's sinister history means that the past is very much alive.The problems with this film are too numerous to mention: the predictability of the thing works against it, as does the insipid acting and the weak writing. The dialogue is noticeably cringeworthy, particularly in the way the information is continuously spoonfed to the viewer who is apparently unable to think for him or herself. The best thing about it is Lindsay Price, whose chirpy demeanour adds the only fun and life this film has.

I just recently watched the film and i thought it was very intriguing. Watching as the woman uncovers her husbands family curse was very good at times it was making me feel that i needed to know more. Towards the end as she finds out she is pregnant with a boy and the curse is only for the men of the family that her child was last made it interesting as she was looking for a way to end the curse. What mad me upset was when the ghost of the princess that was kept as a slave until she could love the man's great grandfather, showed the woman where she was buried and that she was strangled and killed along with her infant son. This made me so upset i mean the poor little child and her. Then the curse is gone and its a year on and it ends nice and elegantly. Overall it was a good movie.

I found this movie to be very realistic. You can tell right away this isn't another Hollywood fantasy. You can see how spiritism works in the real world. I understand how this may appear as naive picture to someone expecting highly budgeted Hollywood movie, but, on the other hand, to someone grown up in the spiritual world, this may feel like part of reality. I'd say go for it, see the movie. Either if you're looking for fun, either if you're seeking for a deeper meaning of things, it's worth seeing. One other thing I loved about this movie was the way the director cuts a long story short i.e. skips through some unnecessary emotional scenes in moments of tragedy. Although it is only a TV production, I vote it 8 out of 10 for the way it gets and keeps the attention of the viewer.

"Secrets of the Summer House" is a rather enjoyable Lifetime haunted house effort.**SPOILERS**Hosting a new exhibit, artist Nikki Wickersham, (Lindsay Price) and her husband George Wickersham, (David Jones) are called out to Maine to sort through his father's belongings after he dies. Arriving there to find they've inherited an island with a large mansion on it, they quickly learn of an old story surrounding the house about it being haunted through the years, yet friends Margie Mancuso, (Sadie LeBlanc) and Peter Hughes, (Niall Matter) convince them to stay there anyway. While working on a special project, a series of strange events around the house has them convinced that the house has indeed a spirit roused by a secret from the past, and they work to rid it from their house before it strikes them as well.The Good News: There was some decent stuff in here that made it quite enjoyable at times. One of the better elements was that it managed to include a rather sizable amount of hauntings that were far more involved than expected, rather than just flashing a ghost for a second or so. The first night on the island, during the raging thunderstorm where the lights go out, the shutters get blown open and the trouble outside in starting a generator is interrupted by a falling shingle from the window above, dropped almost supernaturally. It's quite an impressive sequence, almost as good as a later scene where one is standing on a ladder to fix the shingle, only for a ghostly presence to appear in that window and cause it to fall, seriously injuring them in the process before disappearing in a flash before they can be spotted. Another strong suspense scene is the longest and most enjoyable of the film, where during a raging thunderstorm outside and the lights going out, a brief reprise in the kitchen makes for a perfect target for supernaturally-hurled furniture and dishes at her, along with the rattling glasses and flying boards, leading to a strong chase around the house trying to find shelter before finding all the doors locked and the only escape coming from a brilliantly-executed escape, all leading into a great scene. The best parts of the film, though, are the several different scenes within the small closet within the house, which are insanely creepy and downright enjoyable, coming across as the best stuff here by a wide margin. The simple set-up the first time around, the rapidly closing door and the shuffling voices wailing all around her and becoming more disorienting as time goes on inside, creates an incredibly intense experience and makes for a great scene. The later one, where the body is found buried beneath the floorboards and the eventual placating of the myth, is punctuated by a strong opening with the doorways opening supernaturally into the desired areas, the rattling of the house and the destruction of the different pieces of furniture around the area, coupled by the strong presence of the skeletal remains and the remnants of the back-story coming into play wonderfully make for a superb scene that is quite enjoyable. The last part that works here is the film's rather strong back-story, which is really unique and quite enjoyable. From the family legend that is the perfect set-up for a ghostly mystery to be unraveled from, the revelations coming from the look-ins on the family members and finally the contents of the sealed lock-box, which contain the most frightening pieces of the puzzle, this is a lot stronger than would be expected in such a simple film and give an effectively spooky backdrop for the events to unfold. These here are the film's good parts.The Bad News: This one didn't have a whole lot of bad points, and it easily could be said to have only one flaw. The simple fact of the matter is that the film doesn't have any real sense of suspense or fear coming from anything since it has such a long amount of time in between all the different haunting scenes so that it's virtually impossible most of the time to believe it's a horror film. From their constant dealings with the renovation aspect of the house to the bad blood between the loner there and their feelings toward the area, it's got a lot of time that is specifically away from being a horror film, and that's something which can be problematic for some out there. By keeping the attention away from the horror and making full use of a lot of different elements isn't necessarily part of what makes for an enjoyable film. The fact that these are part of the middle section of the film, when it's supposed to be building up after the discovery of the freak accidents there, drops them to focus on drama portions of the plot doesn't allow for very smooth pacing, as it gets into a miniature rhythmic start, only to stop for significant amounts of time to focus on other parts, and it's a real drain for that to occur. That also takes the power away from the ghostly encounters, which are quite a let-down after such a strong start. These here are the film's problems.The Final Verdict: A lot better than expected, and certainly one of the better Lifetime horror films around, this one turned up with a lot of good parts and a few minor flaws. Definitely recommended to fans of the others Lifetime horror efforts, as well haunted-house fans or of the cast, while those who aren't should heed caution.Rated PG-13: Violence, Language and a clothed, minor sex scene