There are some really talented actors in this movie. It's a shame to see them waste their time (although there's no sign of any effort) on this. It's not that it had no potential. Based on a Stephen King story, it shares a lot of basic elements with The Shining. Gifted boy with imaginary friend from a family that are sensitive to other-worldly/paranormal things in peril. Senility replaces alcoholism as the boogey-man in the subtext, but there are a lot of thematic and plot similarities.The trouble is that this movie was so poorly done. The writing wasn't great, the direction/editing is awful. Quite often it seems more like people doing a blocking rehearsal than an actual take. It's impossible to feel involved in what's going on. Some of the dialogue is so bad that it's easy to understand why everyone seems non-committal - there is no way to deliver those lines well.The kid playing the lead makes an honest effort, and this film shouldn't be held against him, but it's a black mark on the filmography of everyone else involved.

I only know that this was from a Steven King story from reading the other reviews...and frankly, had I known it was a King derivation, I would have left it alone. If I've seen one King movie, I've seen them all.In this case, this story was ADAPTED from whatever King short it came from...and the Director then added some Non-StevenKing ingredients. I smell a touch of Lovecraftian flavor in the atmospherics and the casual, southern hills spookiness of the family and their struggle to deal with what seems to be just a dark Grandma suffering with dementia.And again...that could be boiler-plate horror that's been done again and again. But this one isn't following the straight-up Hollywood Backwoods Horror formula. And more to the point, it's giving the viewer a cast of characters that aren't the usual studio cardboard cut-outs. And in this story, the telling is from the POV of the kid Brothers as they deal with Family History and secrets. Not the WILD things...but actually just like the stories we'd would hear about our own forebears..if we were old enough to be told and knew how to keep Family Business 'In the Family'.With GOOD Horror, you care about how the character will deal with the Unknowable. The EFX is just icing on the cake.And when Horror has a Lovecraftian bent, how the characters deal with the outcome is even more Key...because unlike normal Hollywood Movies...there are NO Good Endings in the Lovecraft Universe.It's about How the Protagonist goes Down.Watch this one around Midnight. And it's best with the lights turned down. But you have to be patient...

I must start with this: I love horror movies! I prefer horror movies with demons, ghost, paranormal activities (and not talking to "Paranormal activity" – very bad movie) and etc. This is one of the reasons to watch "Mercy". The trailer of the movie lies. Yes, like most trailers those days, they show the most interesting 2 minutes of the movie. The story is very unoriginal and the movie looks very cheap. It's the typical old house, creepy book, and scary looking grandma movie. Nothing memorable, I would never recommend this film to anyone.Also, the 90% of the movie is so dark, that you can actually imagine your own storyline. Maybe it will be better than original.The other reason for choosing this movie is actually Dylan McDermott. I know him from American Horror Story and I really like him, but in this movie he acts like he doesn't really care about it. Maybe he doesn't really like the movie too. The worst thing in the whole movie is maybe the acting of Chandler Riggs, who plays George. I know him from Walking dead and he is very bad actor. I don't even know why this kid is an actor!? His acting in the movie is very falsely. He saw several dead bodies and never screams. He was acting like everything is okay, but hello there are dead people in front of you! He must learn to distinguish The Walking Dead comedy from serious movies. So the only thing that I really liked in the movie was the cute dog.

The acting from this is decent. The kid from The Walking Dead fares pretty well, definitely better than in The Walking Dead (although how much I hate him there is really only because of his horrible character and less because of his acting). I just think the film is really, really unoriginal. Well I guess making it a grandma gives it some originality points, but hey. The score is way too loud at times, and the climax sort of weak. Still, it's never boring (although at no point does it ever really achieve entertainment to a very high level). This is maybe recommended to some, maybe not to others. Overall, nothing too memorable.