If you are looking for a spooky movie then "Haunt" is not really the best of choices. It has a mediocre storyline and some fairly cheap scare tricks going on.A family has moved into a new house where mysterious things are going one. And when the teenagers have a séance they get in touch with something inside the house.It is a mediocre storyline that initially did seem okay, but it just lacked proper scary atmosphere and spooky moments. And whenever they did attempt to scare the audience by showing a haunt or apparition, they usually made use of a lousy out of focus effect with the camera. I guess that it is an easy way to glance past perhaps a lack of great effects or make-up?The acting in "Haunt" was okay, although the cast were extremely limited by the script and the storyline."Haunt" did have potential to be a good horror movie, but director Mac Carter couldn't bring the ship safely into harbor, so to speak.All in all, an average movie experience, but a weak horror experience. As such, "Haunt" fails to haunt the audience and scores a mere five out of ten stars from me.

The Asher family buys an isolated manor where a tragedy happened with the previous owners, the Morello family, when the father and his three children died. The only survivor, the pediatrician Janet Morello (Jacki Weaver), sells the house to Alan Asher (Brian Wimmer) and his wife Emily (Ione Skye), and they move with their children, the teenagers Evan (Harrison Gilbertson) and Sara (Danielle Chuchran) and the girl Anita (Ella Harris). The shy Evan meets the teenager Sam (Liana Liberato), who is abused by her father, and they start to see each other. Sam finds an old radio- like apparatus used to communicate with the dead in the attic and they decide to use it. Soon they learn that they have unleashed an evil force that is haunting them but Evan's parents do not believe in ghosts. "Haunt" is a weak horror movie of haunted house where the only thing new is the apparatus that is a radio to communicate with the dead. The screenplay is boring and gives the sensation that something is missing to be a good story. Watching this movie is a waste of time even in a rainy and cold Saturday afternoon. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "A Face do Mal" ("The Face of the Evil")

Haunt is a very competent horror film because of its sinister atmosphere, competent direction and an interesting screenplay with some innovative elements. My favorite one of those elements was the electronic synthesizer of ghost voices, a kind of steampunk E.V.P. radio which allows communication with the deceased ones... or with whatever presence is rounding the haunted house. There are other ingenious elements in the screenplay, but I prefer not to reveal them in order to avoid spoilers. What I can reveal is that Liana Liberato and Harrison Gilbertson bring solid performances and have a perfect chemistry with each other as the "odd couple" with different methods and motivations to solve the mystery. I found the romantic sub-plot between their characters a bit irrelevant, but the investigation they make adequately combines the tense search of evidences with paused reflections about the origin of the supernatural events. Speaking of which, Haunt makes a good use of practical effects in order to bring the ghosts and appearances to shape, obtaining some good shocks and moments of a delicious suspense. On the negative side, some edition tricks and sonorous accents feel a bit excessive. Nevertheless, I found Haunt a very entertaining horror film with an interesting mystery, good scares and credible characters who, at the difference of many films from this genre, generate empathy on the audience. Comparing Haunt with other "haunted house" films from the last 5 years, I would place it below Insidious or The Conjuring, but above Sinister or any of the Paranormal Activity sequels.

i gave this a 6 outta ten because the cinematography was good, the ghost was actually pretty terrifying as movie spirits go, jacki weaver was eerie and haunting in her role as the vengeful wife and grieving mother, and the ending kinda surprised me. i jumped quite a few times, and the scares weren't as predictable as other movies. of course it wasn't on the same par as sixth sense, exorcist, insidious, or the shining ; the script was kind of bad, the teenage love story was gag-inducing, and there wasn't any character development to speak of, but all in all not a bad little ghost story at all. especially for netflix. a bit clichéd but wholly entertaining would be my description.