Dir. Mickey Liddell (2008)
A young girl begins to believe that she will be taken over by an evil presence on her 18th birthday.
Teen horror is my jam, ya'll. Maybe it's growing up in the 90's and 2000's, the age in which mainstream horror took a huge step back from being disturbing and ultra-violent, where slashers became a bit more playful and they weren't exploring the psychological depths that films in the 80's and more recent horror has plumbed. Some of my all-time favorite movies came from this period, and while the downside of having a bunch of films that don't seek to be deep means they're generally not as good, they're usually still a blast to watch. Unfortunately, it's a fine balance to strike, and it's one that today's film didn't quite manage.
Molly (Haley Bennett) is a 17-year-old high school student who appears to be cursed. Her mother tried to kill her before ending up in a mental institution, believing that on her 18th birthday she would be possessed by something evil. Molly don't care about none of that, she's much more focused on fitting in at her new school. She meets the local religious student (you know the type, played by Shanna Collins), and eventually gloms on to the badass Leah (Shannon Woodward) as her constant companion. She's falling for the super popular jock Joseph (Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford, who I'm still not convinced isn't a loosely disguised Zac Efron), and life is generally going well. Except for she keeps seeing visions of her mother, warning her of an upcoming tragedy. Needless to say, sometimes crazy people are not all that crazy.
The Haunting of Molly Hartley does fulfill a lot of its teen horror intentions. It's not particularly scary, it's filled with pretty people going through some shit, and it's got a bunch of jump-y scenes with your stereotypical slightly-rock soundtrack. That is, unfortunately, about all it has going for it. While this was definitely a mainstream horror film, it's much more Lifetime than Shudder, and it fails to really complete it's plot in a way that's satisfying even for people who love this sub-genre of horror. The actors are all fine, I suppose, but this is really more like if someone on The OC got possessed by a spirit than it is Rosemary's Baby, though it's clearly inspired by the latter.
The one person who did impress me in the film is Jake Weber, who plays Molly's dad. You probably know him better as the schoolteacher-turned-hero Michael in Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead. He was great and believable, and honestly too good to be cast in this film. Molly is full-on cheap cheese, and Weber takes it a little too seriously to fit in with the rest of the cast. Regardless, he is a bright spot in a film that really struggles to find too many more.
The biggest issue with Molly Hartley is that it doesn't completely know what it's supposed to be. The opening scene is cool, and it hints at some things to come, but it's never explained to the audience how the "possession," if that's what it is, jumps from the opening scene to Molly and her mother. We know that she's cursed, they do give that a bit in a flashback scene. But why? This question is never answered, and the film greatly suffers for it. In Rosemary's Baby, we know that the ultimate outcome of Rosemary's pregnancy will be the birth of the Antichrist. Molly Hartley just becomes kind of a bitch. Unfortunately, this isn't enough to hold our interest, even when the film at times threatens to become a good watch.
Who this movie is for: Teen horror superfans, Cult movie appreciators, Gossip Girls
Bottom line: The Haunting of Molly Hartley never delivers the haunts, though at times it tries to, and is largely a collection of scenes without a fully-formed narrative to tie them together. By the time some of it is explained, we're not sure that we really care anymore. The actors are all fine, the writing is decent, there's just not enough meat to bring it home. This one would fit a lot better on Lifetime than you'd think.
