The first thing I'd have to say about The Haunting of Radcliffe House (Altar) is that it's too long, the lesser elements of this TV film failed to hold my attention, I got a bit bored with it at times. The positives, who doesn't love a ghost story, it's been done a hundred times before, but it's still watchable, it still has a few jumps, and the story itself is an interesting one. Antonia Clarke, playing daughter Penny, was easily the best performer throughout, she was great.
The bad bits, it's been done before, you could spend ages picking out the film references, there are too many to list, The Skeleton Key is heavily referenced. The acting is generally a little amateur, I'm a fan of Olivia Williams, but she isn't great here, maybe it's the clunky direction, but none of them seem well serviced, Antonia Clarke somehow manages to add something. I think they tried to be over creative, some of the 'arty' scenes were way off.
A good plod. 6/10
Altar
2014
Action / Horror / Mystery
Altar
2014
Action / Horror / Mystery
Keywords: ghostenglandhaunted house
Plot summary
The Hamilton family moves into a large country house on the Yorkshire Moors to supervise its restoration from a dilapidated B&B to the original Victorian grandeur. When wife, mother, and renovation expert Meg Hamilton first loses her London team after an accident, then a local Yorkshire team is too superstitious to continue, she's forced to carry on alone. The discovery of a secret attic room, a Rosicrucian mosaic, a bricked-up root cellar, and many other unexplainable events gradually convince Meg, her husband Alec, and their children Penny and Harper, that they're renting not only the house, but also its original Victorian owners who died 150 years ago. But before they can escape, the house and its former occupants force them to spend one last, terrifying night under its roof.
Uploaded by: OTTO
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
The good slightly beats the bad
Ghosts of the past
It doesn't seem to be a clever idea to move into a house which has a disturbing history or a disturbing man who lived there. For one reason or another, people do tend to still go into those places. For one, we wouldn't have those horror movies if they didn't. And sometimes they're pretty decent. Also do not forget, these are just movies.
Even if based in "reality" or at least at performances that feel real. The acting is more than decent here, the cast contributes to that, the scares are nicely thrown in there for good measure. They work most of the time and the ending is good in that terms too. You'll see most things coming of course, but that doesn't change the fact that this is watchable
Mom's working
"Altar" and "The Haunting of Radcliffe House" are the same film. The Hamilton family moves into the old Radcliffe house in order to restore it. The townies are leery of the place and are not much help. Meg (Olivia Williams) and her husband Alec (Matthew Modine) perform the bulk of the work. They have an asthmatic daughter Penny (Antonia Clarke) and a son (Adam Thomas Wright) who is underdeveloped plot wise.
While they are restoring they discover the proverbial secret room and this one has floor art, which is apparently an altar whose function is unknown. At this point strange things seem to happen as Alec punctured his finger and his blood fell to the floor in that room, "Hell Raiser" memory flash as it gets sucked up. The events build up slow as we discover what happens in that house.
This is a run of the mill ghost story. Nothing really new, but it was done well.
Guide: F-bomb, implied forced sex. Olivia Williams brief nudity (?) Statue nude being fondled.