Movie Review: "The Apparition"

Runtime: 82 minutes

Release Date: August 24, 2012

Rating: PG-13

Director: Todd Lincoln

Here's a little backstory on my experience with "The Apparition." We went to the drive-in every other week and sometimes once a week last summer. I noticed that this was playing, but given the BF's work schedule, we couldn't make it that weekend. The next weekend, the theater had already replaced it with something else. From what I heard, a lot of people switched sides before this one started, which didn't bode well for my own experience.

Basically, a bunch of people do this random experiment to try and capture real evidence of a ghost. A group of college kids try the same thing, and it ends with one of them dragged into a wall and disappearing. A few years later, Ben (Sebastian Stan, "Captain America") and his girlfriend Kelly (Ashley Greene, "Twilight") live in this newer subdivision that is just begging for occupants. Other than a single dad and his daughter, there is no on else there.

Before long, they notice some weird things going on in the house. Ashley keeps seeing things, the counters have weird unexplained marks, the doors open, and there's disgusting black mold growing underneath the house. Ben also discovers that his good old friend Patrick keeps trying to get in touch with him. By getting in touch with him, I mean obsessively sending emails and text messages and calling every 15 minutes. Ben and Patrick were also two of the students working on that old project, and Ben actually dated the girl who disappeared.

I could go on and on about the plot of the film and what happens, but I honestly don't want to. I was hoping that this movie would be better than I thought and it ended up being worse. My roommate yelled at me for taking it back to the rental place before he had a chance to watch it, but after listening to my description, he was glad he didn't waste the time.

It's sad because it's been a long time since I saw a truly great ghost film. How hard can it be to make a movie about ghosts that actually has a few scares in it? Everything about this one felt predictable. Then again, it does feature the kid who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter flicks. If you want to see how he grew up, give "The Apparition" a shot.