Isabelle

ISABELLE is another extremely boring haunted house type chiller in which a young woman gives birth to a stillborn baby before moving into a new home. Once there she's haunted by perplexing events while others believe she's losing her mind. This is a film that goes through the motions in every respect, with cheap filmmaking principles all around and a complete lack of suspense and involvement on the viewer's behalf. It's tired, cliched, slightly distasteful, and also entirely boring to boot.

This movie got everything wrong. The plot is lazy and unoriginal, the characters are horribly written and horribly acted and the "special effects" are incredibly cheap (am I supposed to take those red eyes seriously? I have seen better effects in Goosebumps). Plus the ending makes no sense and the direction is non-existent. I'm baffled that such garbage found its way in the theatres.

The movie has potential, good actors and obviously some kind of budget but then there are some moments that makes the movie look like it has been made by high-school students. When you have a budget why ruin it? Why try and then ruin it on dumb details? Watched 30 minutes... the "scary" parts wasn't even nearly frightening. The girl in the window looks like a model posing with pale make-up and a dull filter over the picture every time she shows on screen. Spooooky... not. It would have been more scary if the girl just stood/sat there without any ghost-like makeup. If you as a director can't see such a simple thing how can you make even a slightly successful watchable movie? I didn't want to waste more time to find out if it had any quality to it or not. If you do, I'll come back and read about it!

This movie tackles grief, desperate resorts for a child who is born with a birth defect, the loss of a stillborn child, mental illness, strange neighbors, and a second opportunity in LIFE after experiencing a near death experience. I enjoyed the role of Larissa. A woman who refuses to allow her inner conflict take over her life. She fights every step of the way even after experiencing hauntings from the same spirit. Larissa dies for one minute when she undergoes a miscarriage. That one minute becomes crucial in the plot and conflict of this story. I was thoroughly impressed with the writing of Donald Martín, the directing of Robert Heydon, the acting of Amanda Crew, Adam Brody, Sheila McCarthy, and Zoe Belkin, and the music of Mark Korven. I liked how all the pieces and elements fell together to create an ending I never anticipated. Isabelle is worth watching.