The Haunting at the Beacon (2011)

Review by David Rupp



While trying to get their lives back on track after the loss of their four year old son, Bryn and Paul Shaw move to the charming old Beacon Apartments. Bryn begins seeing a ghostly little boy skulking around the building. With the help of an eccentric young professor and a tough old beat cop, Bryn tries to uncover the details of the boy's death. She hopes that freeing the child will allow him to carry a message to her son. Too late she realizes a second malevolent entity stalks the halls of the Beacon: one that doesn't want the boy to escape.

Written & Directed by Michael Stokes
Starring: Teri Polo, David Rees Snell and Elaine Hendrix

There are two sub-genres I really fall for, supernatural stuff in all it's forms and wierd religious horror, Beacon fals into the first category. I was really excited to get my hands on this, the story sounded good, the cast seemed like they would pull through (they did), and it was a fairly touchy, if not overdone idea. Press play.
Well I'll start off on a positive note, the cast was essentially effective in their performances. You will feel involved in plot, have feelings, bee slightly creeped by the spooky dynamics. On the flip side of this precariously balanced coin is the fact that between the stuff we like to see are almost painfully drawn out plot placements I know are intended to advance the story and fill you in, but seem to bend and stretch time in a way that when you think the movie has been on for an hour you only find 4 minuites have passed.
Besides being slow, the ghost kid isn't that creepy, in contrast the malevolent spirit is. Maybe they did that on purpose but I feel it could have been a touch darker. If you happen to catch this streaming late one evening and have nothing better to do, give it a whirl.
6/10