TheLittleSongbird 'The Unspoken' 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 was very weak, its worst elements being pretty awful, with a lot more wrong than right. 'The Unspoken' is not great, or good, has a fair share of problems (fairly big ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There are however a few decent, even good, qualities in 'The Unspoken'.Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric, likewise with the decent way it's shot. The music is suitably spooky and quirky and doesn't distract at all from the atmosphere, while not exactly enhancing it. Found too that the last third redeemed things, picking up in pace and even offerings some effective spooks (though this all came too little too late) after the rest of the film being so dull. However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary it got. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their irritating and illogical decision making and behaviours insult the intelligence. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The acting is also terrible, with a lot of sleepwalking and histrionics. The effects are ropy at best.Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the second half and never is it exciting. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense. A lot of the film fails to make sense, both in underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations. There is very little threat here and what there is of it is used poorly. The first two thirds badly sags in momentum and the atmosphere completely falls flat, before the last third until the too pat climax redeems things.In conclusion, very weak but not unwatchable. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Stephen Abell There's something wrong with the house in the woods down on Briar Lane. Years after a family disappears from the house in the '70's the boards are being pried off the windows and the doors are being unlocked as a new tenant is moving in. A young mother, Jeanie (Hutton), and her mute son have escaped the city and their traumas there. After his father passed away Adrian stopped speaking and hopefully, the change of pace and scenery will help him out of this fugue. With them comes a nurse and housekeeper, Portia (Rukiya Bernard), and from the town, they hire Angela (Ferland), a part-time confidant for Adrian. However, no sooner than they've opened the doors to the house that strange things begin to happen.I really do like this new and refreshingly well thought out take on the Haunted House subgenre of horror. The story is well structured and full of interesting characters. However, it would have been nice to have a few more scenes between Father and Daughter in respect to Angela's character as this would not only have strengthened and filled her out more but would have added a better depth to the story. It also would have added more power to climax when Angela's dad (Munro) comes to save her.The director does a wonderful job of creating the scene of a town/village which has seen better days. This is great as it adds to the believability and reality of the story. People have problems and they are doing their best to survive... everything isn't rosy. I also have to give credit for the opening sequence which throws the audience straight into the action and sets the scene, pace, and atmosphere for the rest of the movie.With all the horror films out and about that stomp over well-worn scenarios, it's refreshing to have a twist. It's also nice to have a decent director filming - all too often the direction itself is one of the major things to harm a film (contrary to belief not everyone can make a good horror film).As for the acting, it's well above par and the portrayals only add to the power of the film. One of the best is Adrian (Suljic), though he doesn't say a word, he definitely has a presence throughout the whole film.I would recommend this to all lovers of the horror genre and to those wishing to try something out of the field. It's not the best but it's a great deal better than most in the genre and well worth a viewing... or two...

mrspleen-10683 Just finished watching this film, aka "The Haunting of Briar House", as part of a horror/chiller Halloween season on a TV channel and I was pretty impressed by it.Most of the movie was standard, OKish haunted house fare that was peppered (but thankfully not spattered) by some decent gory effects. However, the ending of the film was what made it worth six stars, especially the final scene as the car makes its way to its next destination...

misscath-02668 I really liked this movie, not sure why there are so many bad reviews. OK, it's not along the lines of James Wan's films but I still found it scary. There were a couple of unexplained moments. Why was Angela holding the knife when the cops showed up? What was up with the lesbian kiss? The rest I found enjoyable and the acting was decent. There was enough scary moments to make up for it's weaker points.