In this highly predictable step-by-step thriller, Haley Bennett stars as Molly Hartley, a teen whose life takes a turn for the worse, after having been stabbed by her seemingly demented mother, and whose new life in a new school comes with visions and hallucinations which could very well be real...
The Haunting of Molly Hartley Synopsis
Molly (Bennett) and her overprotective father (Jake Weber, Meet Joe Black) are looking to start fresh, after a traumatic family event in which Molly's mother tried to fatally stab her daughter, while ranting she was "trying to save her".
In order to get past this trauma, her father enrolls her into a new private school, hoping the change of scenery will help her cope with her psychological scars. At this new school, Molly meets a few people, each from a different clique: the devoutly religious Alexis (Shauna Collins), the athletic and hunky Joseph (Chace Crawford), and the marginal and eccentric misfit Leah (Shannon Marie Woodward).
As she tries to make friends and fall into a semblance of normality, Molly still tries to come to terms with recurring nightmares of her stabbing experience, as well as horryfying visions and auditory hallucinations. While she maintains her mother might still be after her (though Mother remains committed to the local mental institute), Molly slowly comes to realize this psychosis might be hereditary, and she herself could be headed for the nuthouse.
With much encouragement from her father to discuss her issues with the school's counselor Dr. Emerson (Nina Siemaszko, The West Wing), Molly deals with the pressures of both school social politics, as well as her own problems, all the while slowly falling in love with the dashing Joseph.
As she nears her 18th birthday, increasingly bizarre events unfold, as Molly discovers there may be something more to her recent experiences than meets the eye: some secrets her parents never told her about regarding her birth, could be a cause. As the mystery and suspense reaches a boiling point, Molly may have a hellish fate reserved for her....or does she?
The Haunting of Molly Hartley Overall Analysis
The film's premise sounds promising at first, but over its 92 running time it basically fails to bank in on what could have been a much more engaging suspense thriller. As a potential supernatural horror film, this movie instead turns into a very slow, very loaded episode of either Degrassi or 90210, school cliques and all, with only implied evil forces (and we're not talking school bullies, here.)
Molly's possible demonic connections inferred in the plot, aren't really implied until the last 10 minutes of the film, making for a deflated story, one which takes way too long in getting down to business. And so, Haley Bennett's character spends most of the film's running time recoiling from the camera in jumpy sequences, to imply something scary jumping at her, be it real or as a figment of her imagination.
A Somewhat helpful prologue to the film shows a teenage girl (Jessica Lowndes) is a similar predicament, whose father also tries to kill her, so at least the audiences knows that to turn 18 in this film is a very bad idea...or at least most of the parents think so.
And so the terror per se, comes off as lopsided, and ineffective. The cast of young actors in this movie barely make their mark, and come to think of it, neither do the adults. Nina Siemaszko's Dr. Emerson barely appears on screen, though by the last act she becomes an intricate part of the denouement? Tsk tsk tsk. Might as well introduce Darth Vader in the third film of the original Star Wars trilogy...
This film will likely only appeal to those teens who get major kicks out of things or people jumping at the camera, accompanied by strident violin crescendos. As for the rest of us, we're just as likely to skip over this barely passable excuse for a horror film.
Haunting of Molly Hartley DVD Features
The disc comes with the theatrical trailer, and cast interviews as to how they approached their respective characters. Skip over both features, unless you're really into the actors themselves.
4 out of 10, for starting out as a promising tale of haunting terror and horror, but missing the mark by a mile.
Dominic Messier - Dominic Messier is a Toronto-based Film & TV writer, Sci-Fi TV and Film Dramas Topic Editor, and creator of PopCultureLandscape.com
