For a presentation from The Asylum, then "The Haunting of Whaley House" was really one amazing movie. I remember seeing some, well lets just call them questionable movies from The Asylum in the past, but they do manage to throw a curveball every now and then and put out something with real entertainment value.
And "The Haunting of Whaley House" was just one such incident.
The movie was actually rather entertaining, and it did have the occasional scary moment here and there, but in overall it wasn't a scary movie as per se. To me, it was more in the likes of a supernatural thriller that was heavily driven by the story itself and not the actual scares.
I must admit that I am not familiar with the actual story behind the Whaley house, but having seen this movie it has put a seed in the soil so to speak, having sparked an interest in learning more about the actual Whaley house and its story.
The story in "The Haunting of Whaley House" is about a group of young people who venture into the haunted Whaley house, despite having been thoroughly warned not to. Of course some of the youngsters are skeptical about the possibility of the house actually being haunted and not just being a tourist fraud, while others are believers. The night hours grow long as the strange occurrences inside the house amplifies and becomes more and more threatening. Perhaps there is something to the haunted stories after all?
The effects in the movie were adequate for a movie of this budget. They were used effectively although with moderation. But it did work out well enough and helped added to the suspense of the movie.
As for the acting, well most of the people hired for the various roles were doing good enough jobs, however, I personally didn't care much for the performance that Howard McNair (playing the psychic Keith Drummond) put on, he was too mellowed out and seemed like tripping on shrooms. But of course, that is a matter of personal taste and preference. But aside from that, then I think people did good enough jobs with their roles.
The house itself, although not actually filmed in the actual Whaley house, was actually a nice touch. Lots of nice details and small things that you spot here and there. The feel of the house and the mood there was really great and helped added to the atmosphere of the movie. Had they failed to create something less here, the movie would have been a whole other experience.
"The Haunting of Whaley House" is a good movie that is entertaining and just the right amount of spooky and creepy without venturing into being a downright horrorfest. Well worth a watch if you like movie about hauntings, and if you are tired of the hyped up hand-held camera ghost movies that are supposed to be based on real occurrences.
