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Spirit
USA 2001
produced by Albert J. Salzer, Jim Green (executive), Anita Gershman (executive), Larry Gershman (executive), Mark Bacino (executive) for Green/Epstein/Bacino, Crescent City Pictures, World International Network (WIN)
directed by Michael Slovis
starring Elisabeth Moss, Greg Evigan, Austin O'Brien, Valerie Wildman, Lara Grice, Ralph Waite, Ronnie Siemssen, Taylor Simpson, Wallace Merck, James Asmus, Autum Bailey, Douglas M.Griffin, D'Ayanna Hicks, Karen Kaia Livers, Lindsey Mayo, Ryan Miley, Hugh Rodham, Maria Mason
written by Garry Williams, Shawn Nelson, V.R. McDade, music by Richard Bellis
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Six months after the death of her mum (Valerie Waldman), 16 year old
Kelly (Elisabeth Moss) and her dad (Greg Evigan) move to New Orleans ...
and as fate will have it, into a haunted house. And while dad refuses to
acknowledge their house is haunted and more and more loses touch with his
daughter, Kelly believes it's the spirit of her mother - whose death she
blames herself for - who resides in the house ... but then she meets the
spirit one day, and it isn't her mother at all but Virginia (Lara Griece),
a woman who died here 50 years ago, and Kelly figures to put the spirit to
rest, she has to bring her face-to-face with the man who has killed her,
her husband Jacob (Ralph Waite), but who never got convicted. Kelly and her
neighbour/boyfriend Cole (Austin O'Brien) - your typical tough guy with
a heart of gold - try to fetch Jacob, but while he admits to having
killed Virginia, he refuses to face her (understandably) ... and suffers a heart
attack once the kids are gone. Back at home, Virginia goes bonkers for
a bit, seeing the kids return without Jacob, but then she reveals to Kelly
what was really going on all those years back: Jacob didn't kill her, but
she committed suicide after she lost her daughter in an accident, and now
she needs Jacob to forgive her ... Kelly fetches Jacob, who's now
willing to face her, from the hospital and has him finally meet Viriginia
- and at first he's full of bitterness because she left him, but when he
also sees his ghost daughter, his heart pretty much melts, and he's
suddenly full of love for both mother and daughter - which finally enables
them to leave this plane of existence (while Jacob of course has another
heart attack). Seeing this also helps Kelly to finally overcome the loss
of her mother, and everything ends happily ... If it comes to haunted
house stories, it can hardly get any worse than Spirit:
Basically this is a sappy and completely clichéd film about coping with
loss, with a horror theme and thus a few special effects thrown in - that
make little sense in the context of the narrative though. Add to this a
bland directorial effort devoid of anything remotely resembling
atmosphere, a storyline that lacks any kind of build-up, and a constantly
underperforming cast and you are left with 90 minutes you have wasted and
will not get back.
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