Featured DVD Review: Secrets In The Walls

October 8, 2011

Secrets In The Walls - Buy from Amazon

Secrets In The Walls is a TV movie about a haunted house that debuted on ... Lifetime? Haunted houses sound so much more Syfy's style. So it's a bit of a chance for the network, but will the change be for the best? Or should they have stuck with what they do best?

The Movie

Jeri Ryan stars as Rachel Easton, a recently divorced woman and mother of two teenage daughters, Lizzie and Molly. She's trying to move on with her life and get some independence, but it is tough. She lives in the city, but gets a job out in the suburbs and the commute is a little too much. While trying to find her way back to the bus stop after work, she comes across a big house that's for sale. It needs a little work and it's out of her price range, but when the price comes down, she buys it.

At first the new life is great. The home is huge, so Lizzie and Molly get their own rooms instead of having to share a room. It's just a few minutes from work, which cuts down on her commute considerably. There are a few weird things, like strange creaking sounds, but it's an old house. Also, Molly, the younger daughter, doesn't like the basement. On the other hand, Lizzie likes it so much that she wants to use it as her bedroom. When her brother, Martin, helps with some renovations, they find a walled up room, but once they cut down the wall, Molly starts seeing things. She's always had a vivid imagination, but she's also been able to do weird things, like sense when the phone is about to ring. When she sees a ghostly girl in the bathroom, her mom just dismisses it as her imagination getting the best of her. However, the next day when Rachel discusses it with her co-worker, Belle, Belle says she had the same feelings when she was a kid, and now she can speak to spirits. When Lizzie also starts having bad dreams, and it starts to effect her behavior, Rachel decides maybe there really is something wrong with the house.

But did she come to that realization too late?

Secrets In The Walls is a perhaps better than average for a TV movie horror film. It does have some good performances, but the film borrows too heavily from too many similar films to be really effective. The includes general plot points, like the mother being skeptical despite all the evidence, or the youngest daughter being sensitive to the spirits. It also includes very clichéd shots of ghosts appearing in mirrors, something that happens more than once. It takes a long time for the real plot to get moving (it's about a third of the way into the movie before anything remotely scary happens). And finally, because its a TV movie, it obviously can't go too far and most horror fans will find it too tame.

That said, it's well made for what you get and thanks to the good performances from the three lead actresses, it's worth checking out for those who want a family drama with a dose of horror thrown in.

The Extras

There are no extras on the DVD. Not even subtitles.

The Verdict

Secrets In The Walls doesn't offer enough that's new to the genre for a full recommendation and the DVD has zero extras. That adds up to a rental.


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