GL84 When a relative passes, a man inherits her decrepit old mansion and coming to learn she believed it haunted sets out to prove it was simply a matter of unrecognizing everyday events around her unaware of a deadly secret lurking within its walls.This here turned out to be an incredibly dull and barely worthwhile entry. The main problem here, which just about ruins the film right off the bat, is the fact that the film's about a person's nature of being skeptical, a trait which means that every time something supposedly supernatural could happen it's always shot down as realistic instead of supernatural, a rather distressing fact made more damaging due to being presented as absolute fact with constant berating and mocking directed at those who think otherwise. This behavior, from the lead no less, makes it an almost unbearable act to get into the film from the beginning as being around such an irritating figure is hard to stand. That this is given to other characters, who each spend most of the time engaging in the same exact behavior throughout the entire film of making it attempt to be realistic rather than trying to emphasize the supernatural hauntings really makes the film's attempts at generating scares pretty worthless. The banging off-screen doors, whispering voices and moving objects to different locations that are being used for that purpose then don't mean anything when they occur since it's all pretty much ignored and explained, reducing their effectiveness long before how tame they are ruins the film in that manner, leaving this whole thing incredibly flawed with a damaging gimmick, lame scares and a boring pace which really kills off the few positive points it developed.Rated PG-13: Violence and Language.

davejderisi I found this film in a pile of movies at a pawn shop near my house. As a fan of the IFC line of films, I decided to pick it up. This movie unfolds at a very good pace. Every scene seemed important and the entertainment did not die down once. This is a ghost story type of movie and honestly it kinda felt like a TV movie, but that just made for a warm feel. Fellas, it's a good movie to watch with your girlfriend, but don't expect blood and guts because its the uneasy type of scary that this films delivers. There should be more low key horror films like this. another title that's similar but a little upscale with the terror is "The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh". I highly recommend it if you liked "The Skeptic".

Claudio Carvalho When the forty year old skeptical lawyer Bryan Becket (Timothy Daly) receives a phone call late night, he is informed that his distant aunt had just died and he can only think in the inheritance of her manor. Becket decides to leave his wife Robin Becket (Andrea Roth) and his son to live in the house while selling it and give an opportunity to Robin to rethink their relationship. However his partner Sully (Tom Arnold) advises him that his aunt had a will and the house would belong to the institute of technology managed by Dr. Warren Koven (Bruce Altman) that research sleeping disorders. Bryan visits Dr. Koven and meets his psychic patient Cassie (Zoe Saldanha). Sooner Bryan is haunted by whispers and voices and discovers that the unknown is more frightening than any reality."The Skeptic" is a scary ghost story of haunted house that startles the viewer with creepy scenes. The beginning and development of the plot are excellent and Tim Daly performs a skeptical lawyer that feels lost when faces a paranormal activity in his aunt's house and is haunted by a mystery of his forgotten past. Unfortunately the conclusion is awful and spoils the story, giving the disappointing sensation that the budget had ended and the producer needed to finish the film anyway without any care to the characters or situation. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Herança Paranormal" ("Paranormal Inheritage")

chicagopoetry Sometimes movies just don't get a lot of attention because of their names, like this one, The Skeptic, which is an interesting name for a romantic comedy but not for a haunted house story. Too bad the big movie house monopolies don't play indie films. We have to find these things on DVDs or sneak a look at them online. It was cool seeing Tom Arnold playing a dramatic role but I gotta tell ya, he seemed a bit out of breath and I don't think it was intentional. I hope he is okay, health-wise.I give it a six because its merits outweigh its flaws, but ultimately The Skeptic is a confused story of a guy who leaves his wife to live in the house of his recently deceased Aunt. Of course the house is haunted. Unfortunately the loose ends of this psychological and supernatural story never get tied up and a few things happen that seem to be downright absurd. For example, why would this guy who has apparently inherited this big mansion filled with priceless treasures leave the front door unlocked? Come on. And what happened to the dispute over who the house was left to in the will? One moment we learn that the house was actually left to some scientist who is researching the paranormal, and then we never hear about that again and the house simply continues to be in the possession of the main character who drinks the wine in the wine cellar and who kicks over tables and pretty much goes nuts in there. And there are other annoying flaws in the story as well.But all in all this is a fairly decent ghost story with two big scares that will make you jump out of your chair. It is really reminiscent of those old black and white haunted house movies during which you don't know if the house is really haunted or if someone is just playing mind games for some evil purpose. Oh, but then, abruptly, there comes the ending, which is unfortunately a huge anti-climax. Please don't throw whatever is in your hand at the screen when this movie ends; it's not worth the damage.