A Haunting at Silver Falls: The Return

source: A Haunting at Silver Falls 2

The story could have been decent but much of the acting was horrible. The male characters were the worst.

I'm not even going to pretend this movie is good for the sake of a 'so bad it's great' rating. It's not good. It is watchable, though. This is a sequel to A Haunting at Silver Falls which is a TV movie from 2013. I did see that movie a number of years back, and I don't remember it well, but I remember enough about it that I know it was better than this movie is. Not a whole lot better, but enough so that I decided 'what the hell' and watched the sequel. Laura Flannery has replaced Alix Elizabeth Glitter as Jordan, the teen who (spoilers if you haven't seen part 1) survived her aunt's murderous ghost-causing rampage in the last flick. Jordan is now in college and still dating Larry (who is still played by James Cavlo) while sharing a dorm with cool girl Zoe. The friends, which also include a sweet guy named Trevor who is smitten with Zoe, actually have some of the most entertaining bits in the movie as they banter among one another. But this isn't the story of how Jordan went to college. This is the story about how her aunt comes back as a ghost for revenge and somehow the twins are back as well, even though that part is not well explained. Also not well explained: who gave Larry's psychiatrist mom Dr. Parrish enough funding to turn the old high school into an institute to house mentally unstable psychics with the help of only one overworked psychiatric nurse and one barely competent security guard? Why does it look like the sign for her institute is written on a chalk board? Who on God's green Earth allowed her to house a criminally insane psychic in that institute, and why did she think this was a good idea? Who was taking care of her patients while she was on the run hiding from a ghost and a lunatic for a couple days? Why did the sheriff's office only seem to have one short strand of caution tape from Party City? Why did the sheriff, who up 'til the final minutes of the movie display the only common sense in this entire thing, decide at the last minute to let a bunch of witnesses leave his crime scene with such a goofy line? Those are just a few things that were not explained and I remain curious about. Also, the lunatic is really the only consistently scary part of the movie.

Awful movie. Bad acting and an even worse script. Bargain basement B movie at its best.

The CGI was terrible compared to the original, and without the right Jordan, Larry just wasn't the same. No offense to Laura, she did pretty great, this is just a role for Alix, and without her everyone's portrayals seemed lacking. As a fan of AHaSF, this plot line was mediocre at best, and I was really looking forward to it... but mediocre is the best I can give it.

What not to do as an actor, 101. Too bad the budget and special effects were decent and that the story line had promise. Wasted on failed character development and even the occasional inability to complete a sentence without a dramatic pause.

At no point in this movie did I ever feel a single shred of tension. Everything was so poorly written that any potential scares were telegraphed far ahead of time, and the characters were so flat and paper-thin I had no investment in a single one of them. I actually kind of forgot it was on because I was doing other things while it played.

Total waste of time. Low budget, horrific acting. My daughters middle school drama class puts on a better performance. I am shocked how bad this is.

It felt exactly like made-for-tv and for younger teens. It started out w/ a few things that are awful: overplucked shiny eyebrows, Uggs, & cheap sweaters. Gah. The scene lighting is also very, very dark at times. I did like the character of Trevor, the long-haired unintelligent-seeming-but-likeable guy (Aussie Harry Hains), and it was on the refreshing side to have a middle-aged mom be pretty involved along the way, without getting mocked or sidelined immediately. Also, her hair always looked well-coiffed. :D Sometimes the acting (aaaand direction) wasn't the greatest, but at least the characters weren't made fully unpleasant for drama's sake. Except the cop, he was No. Fun. The writing isn't so hot, either: "She can see the occult." Weird phrasing. This occult, that occult, the other occult over there? "Institute patients" gets called crazy, waaay too many times. How low brow and sh!tty. }:( There's too much repetition and exposition of pretty basic ideas, and little payoff as far as horror goes.

There is no recap of the first film. It picks up years later with Jordon, the main character (Laura Flannery ) played by a different person. Jordon is away at school and sleeps fully clothed with Leisure Suit Larry Parrish (James Cavlo) while her roommate Zoe (Clemmie Dugdale) watches and Trevor (Harry Hains) who listens outside the door being the creepy one. Anne, the unfriendly ghost has returned. Larry gets kidnapped as a way to get to Jordan who comes with her entourage. The writing and acting went downhill and off a cliff from the first film. Guide: No sex or nudity. No swearing that I recall. It was filmed in Salem. . . Oregon.