DVD Review: The Haunting
The Haunting (No-Do) (2009)
Studio: Phase 4 Films
Release Date: September 28, 2010
Directed By: Elio Quiroga
Cast: Ana Torrent, Francisco Boira, Rocio Munoz, Hector Colome & Jorge Casalduero.
Review By: Annie Riordan
Never having had children, I know nothing of the phenomena of postpartum depression. However, the symptoms of PPD are virtually identical to bipolar disorder, an affliction I know too much about. I spent years listening to people telling me to “snap out of it” and/or “cheer up” and that I’d feel better if I did this or that or the other thing. People throw the word “depression” around so casually, not realizing that there’s a lot more to it than just being sad. Me? Well, try this: lock yourself in a windowless room with fifty radios, and tune all of them to different stations. Aural hallucinations are a common symptom of depression. I never hear any individual words, just a surf of voices. But come on, if I walked up to you out of the blue and said: “I hear voices” you’d think I was crazy, right?
That’s the general consensus among Francesca’s co-workers and friends. Even her husband worries about her going wonky. After all, she’s just given birth and they’ve just moved to a brand new house in the countryside. Francesca has taken a much needed leave of absence from her stressful job as a maternity ward nurse, where her disturbing habit of baptizing and naming dead babies was starting to freak out her coworkers.
But life in the country offers no reprieve. Francesca sneaks away from her husband at night to sleep beside the baby, convinced that something horrible will happen to him if she doesn’t. Strange noises resound throughout the old house: running footsteps in the attic, shadowy forms in the doorways. Francesca’s daughter Rosa is having vivid nightmares. A creepy old woman keeps hanging around the property, scuttling off when approached. Everyone around her is convinced that her hold on sanity is rapidly disintegrating. Her husband removes the baby from the house, afraid that Francesca may be a danger not only to herself but to others as well. But Francesca knows she’s not crazy, and she sets out to prove it.
After pumping both the old lady and a local priest for details, Francesca learns that her beautiful new home was once an orphanage, and the site of a Fatima-esque miracle. Once upon a time, three innocent little girls had claimed to see a vision of the Virgin Mary. Newsreel reporters and zealous pilgrims flocked to the house for revelation and healing, but came away with disease and death instead. An exorcism proved insufficient. A tragedy ensued. The entire incident was hastily covered up by the church and the film footage sealed in a vault. The End, as far as the archdiocese is concerned.
But the past isn’t so willing to be ignored. And when it’s been captured on film, it’s even harder to dismiss. Francesca and Miguel set out to recover the secret recording of the terrible tragedy that occurred in the house almost 60 years earlier, but risk making the problem even worse in doing so.
You know, I’ve seen a lot of films about the Anti-Christ, but I think this may be the first film I’ve ever seen about the Anti-Mary. I’m not even sure such a thing exists within Catholic ideology, but I’m a shitty Catholic so what the hell do I know? It is this malignant specter of a miraculous whore in place of a heavenly virgin that kept me interested for the duration. But sadly, it was about the only thing.
Set and filmed in Spain, one cannot help but draw comparisons between this film and 2007’s far superior El Orfanato. They may have two totally different stories to tell, but the basic similarities are difficult, if not outright impossible, to ignore. The story shifts back and forth from past to present, not so much jumping as dissolving into the scratched sepia of old film reels. It’s an interesting effect, but also a slightly disconcerting one. The subplot concerning little Rosa is glaringly see-through from the get go and the story kind of falls apart towards the end, leaving a mess of loose ends dangling about, none of which I can discuss without giving away a great deal of the story. And as the film is not a total loss – benefitting admirably from beautiful locations and a very capable cast – I’m not going to suggest that you skip it. It’s a perfectly acceptable by-the-numbers ghost story with a minimum of violence and a light smattering of sex which should appeal to the timid, occasional horror viewer. For the hardcore, however, there’s nothing here that will convert you or renew your faith. It’s a lukewarm offering to be sure, but still more palatable than a handful of communion wafers.
