TheLittleSongbird 'The Atoning' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an intriguing and quite creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive. It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws are here present in those films, that to me could have been much better considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'The Atoning' is far from terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There are things that are decent enough to make it a step above weak.Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky, and the film is competently shot. The music has some creepiness.Best thing about 'The Atoning' actually is the ending when the film finally gets intriguing and is actually pretty clever, even then it feels too little too late. The acting generally, apart from the dreadfully hammy acting for the psychic, is better than average, particularly from Cannon Bosarge. There is some creepiness here.Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague and under-explained and never gaining momentum. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are sometimes ropy and the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions). Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace and film drags on forever, never recovering until finally getting intriguing to the ending. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. A lot of 'The Atoning' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame.The psychological elements are unimaginative and are more odd than scary, generally failing to show any sense of horror. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, got the sense their heart was not in it.Concluding, lacklustre but not terrible. 4/10 Bethany Cox

dwood1999 After watching The Atoning, I can without hesitation recommend this film. It builds a tension that quickly unfold with a clever twist and an adequate climax. The performances are all enjoyable especial the young child who is great. The demons are mysterious and very "Jaws" like which is refreshing in a genre that is usually way over the top.

shawnblackman A couple and their son are having several issues trying to keep the family together as they seem distant and full of tension. While attempting this their house appears to be haunted with all of them seeing ghosts. What they soon find out is that they are the ghosts and they can't leave the house. They need to figure out how to move on before the creepy shadow creatures get them.This had an interesting premise that was kind of like a serious Beetlejuice but it never reaches its full potential. It was neat how the ghosts still need to eat and sleep so they have to rely on whatever the living people own or get as groceries. The film however is an incredible slow, boring burner. I don't think anyone will watch this twice. It is a very depressing flick as well. The ghost family was lucky the other family never moved out which would've left them with nothing!

ms-donnabray Seriously. The story was so slow, it was painful. The acting was decent here and there but dreadful otherwise. There were elements to the storyline that were intriguing but execution failed miserably. The creatures were spooky until you were presented with them face on. Some things are better left to the imagination. I don't know how this scored a 6.1 on IMDb. Don't waste your time.