This Geek In Netflix: The Skeptic

Another week, another Netflix movie review… only this one has special powers.

I’ve been craving a good haunted house movie– those are my favorites.  Nothing gets better than the maze-like mansion in the “The Haunting” (1999 version, yo), but if you toss in a haunted house with an atrium with some broken windows and an on-the-property family cemetery, I’m pretty much in.

The house in “The Skeptic” does not have an atrium, or even a garden.  What it does have is amazing dialogue, a suck-you-in plot, and some damn fine acting.

Released in 2009 by IFC Films, “The Skeptic” features such actors as Zoe “take-me-now” Saldana, Tom Arnold (yes, I know, but he does a great job), Edward Hermann (does that name sound familiar?  He’s the villain from “The Lost Boys”.  He’s done some other stuff, but we all know what’s important), and Robert Prosky (“Last Action Hero” and “Gremlins 2”, bitches!).

Also: Tim Daly.  Now some of you might be “whoa!” and geeking out a little, but for the rest of you, Tim Daly is the voice of Bruce Timm’s Superman.  He’s done some other stuff but, hey, Superman.  Can’t beat that (unless it’s Batman).

I’m going to need a few minutes alone with this house.

Mr. Daly plays this movie’s male lead, one Bryan Beckett– an active, hardcore, and (of course) skeptical lawyer whose estranged (and angry) aunt dies, leaving him (or so he thinks… bwah ha ha), her wonderfully spooky, atrium-less house.

This inheritance comes at a good time for Bryan, as he and his wife are having marital issues.  See, she thinks that he’s got emotional issues (as in he has no emotions) and he thinks that she married him knowing that he had no emotions, so she shouldn’t be surprised at his continued lack of them.  So he informs her that he’s going to take a few weeks and stay at his dead aunt’s house.

Proof that I was too busy watching the movie to take good screen shots.

While all this plot-movement is taking place, we get a few scenes with Bryan and his partner-in-law (See what I did there, with the whole “law office partner” thing?  I’m so freaking witty.), Sully (Tom Arnold), in order to establish character.  See, Bryan is one of those types who doesn’t believe anything that isn’t grounded in scientific fact and Sully believes in the Loch Ness Monster and aliens, making for some highly amusing and well-written dialogue.

It is during one of these scenes in Bryan’s newly acquired house that something possesses Sully and communicates a message to him about something being in an upstairs closet.  Sully doesn’t remember the incident and drinks what looks to be a Capri Sun, which I totally support.

Not quite Large Marge, but she’s trying.

Then strange things start happening– most of which Bryan is able to explain by various practical and occasionally scientific ideas, but when his aunt’s priest warns him about the evil in the house and Sully shows up with some paperwork showing that his aunt actually left the house to a doctor at a technical institute who studies paranormal phenomenon, Bryan starts to crack around the edges.

It is at this institute that we are introduced to the highly strung psychic prodigy, Cassie (Zoe Saldana).  Cassie manages to worm her way into Bryan’s house in order to verify the happenings there and the house starts to actively, unmistakeably come alive in response to her investigations, showing Bryan that his explainable haunted house isn’t so explainable anymore.

This all makes the movie sound very typical of the genre and, I will admit, the starting plot supports that idea.  But this movie goes from the expected into the unexpected as information about Bryan and the house slowly gets unearthed, which changes this movie into an entirely different beast.

Superman senses the interrupted feng shui of the dining room.

Not only that, but the tension in the movie is wonderful.  My notes have such things like, “…AND THE DOOR IS OPEN.  JESUS CHRIST, THE DOOR IS OPEN.”  This movie isn’t about things jumping out at you, though there is the occasional “HOLY SHIT” reactive visual, but more about the psychological maintenance of fear.  I would say “fear of the unknown”, but once the haunt’s origin is revealed, you’re still at the same level (or higher, in my case) of “fucking terrified”.

I also loved the breakdown of the skeptical Bryan.  There are several scenes of Bryan wandering through the house at the beginning, totally at ease, exploring his new surroundings.  Unlike the characters in most movies, during these scenes, Bryan doesn’t talk to himself.  He is alone and he is thinking– but we don’t get to hear it.  About two-thirds of the way into the movie, that external silence has broken down and he’s mumbling to himself things that we can barely understand.

There are scenes in this movie, certain phrases, particular shots that you don’t really think about in relation to the plot that, upon a second viewing, suddenly add several layers of depth to this film.  It’s beautifully constructed with the director, Tennyson Bardwell (who is also the writer and, really, someone I would mock for that choice of pseudonym much more if this movie hadn’t been so enjoyable) showing an eye for detail in all aspects of his work.

Superman goes into the light with Carol Ann.

My only real criticism of this movie lies in its camera work, as a large chunk of it lends itself more towards that of television than that of a film.  This movie could have had an epic quality about it if only it had been shot in a different style.

Even with the camera work not doing justice to the film, I highly recommend taking the 88 minutes needed to view this movie and queuing it up on Netflix on Demand– it’s well worth it, especially if you like a good chunk of mystery in your horror.