"Half Light" is one surprise of a movie. The film is about a writer, Rachel Carson (Demi Moore) who tragically loses her young son when he drowns by the dock near their house in England. Devastated from the event, Rachel's friend rents her a secluded island cottage on the Scotland coast so she can relax and recover in the comfortable atmosphere, and conquer her current writer's block. But when she arrives to the little old cottage on the edge of the ocean, weird things start to happen. She has strange visions of her son, she spends time with a man living in a lighthouse who has supposedly been dead for seven years, and the townspeople are also quite strange. Real life terror and supernatural events drive Rachel into hysteria from there, as she tries to unravel a complex mystery.
This was a surprisingly chilling little thriller film, the atmosphere of the whole secluded ocean village was unique and neat, the little village set itself sitting right on the sandy beach. There are a lot of dark gray and foggy tones in the film, which add even more to the atmosphere. I liked the whole feeling the film had, it was isolated and eerie. It's kind of hard to explain, I can't really put my finger on it, but the whole atmosphere was foreboding and spooky. Demi Moore was great, she's a pretty believable actress from what I've seen. Her performance was realistic and fit the film well. The settings are great and really spooky on many occasions, particularly the small cottage and the old lighthouse. The story was rather original, and very subtle with overall good writing. The ending was a bit of a twist-ending, blending real-life horror with a supernatural addition, but it fit well and I wasn't disappointed with it (like some twist-endings leave me).
Overall, "Half Light" is a good little thriller film that caught me off guard, I was expecting something along the lines of cheap straight-to-video garbage. It's quite the contrary though. The Gothic, seaside atmosphere was excellent and well put-to-use in the film, and the creepy little story was well written with a satisfying conclusion. Fans of supernatural thrillers will definitely want to check this one out, it's a good one for sure. 7/10.
