The little girl Stephanie (Shree Crooks) is living alone in the house of her family apparently left behind by her parents Eric (Frank Grillo) and Jane (Anna Torv). Her older brother Paul (Jonah Beres),who was supposed to take care of her, is dead on his bed. During the night, Stephanie has nightmares and is scared by an invisible monster. One night, her mother and her father return home and explain to Stephanie that they fled afraid of the monster. What is the mysterious monster?

"Stephanie" is a very creepy film with a surprising ending. The great attraction is certainly the excellent Anna "Fringe" Torv, but Shree Crooks steals the film with a top-notch performance. Frank Grillo completes the lead trio with the usual great performance. The screenplay is very well written, keeping the mystery until the very ending. The direction is also precise, disclosing the story in an adequate pace and supported by excellent cinematography and lighting. The special effects are really scary. For a low-budget movie, "Stephanie" is a magnificent surprise. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

During some unexplained world wide pandemic, Stephanie (Shree Crooks) is home alone in desperate need of adult supervision. The opening kitchen scene was a parent's nightmare. We don't know what happened to her parents and her brother Paul is dead. Stephanie is haunted by a monster. We suspect what may be going on and clues start to come 30 minutes into the feature.

Shree Crooks carried the film. I thought she did an excellent job in the role.

Guide: No swearing or sex. Brief partial nudity (Anna Torv)

A young girl is left alone to hide from malevolent forces that stalk her in the family home. Her parents eventually return and the struggle begins to save their daughter.

Worryingly withdrawn from theatre release by the distributors, Stephanie was resigned to home format releases only. Which while hardly being a film that deserved a theatrical run - or indeed a must see horror - is still a shame because it's a very tidy little chiller.

Mood is nicely set by the opening where a young Shree Crooks (Stephanie) goes about her daily life alone in the house - her only companion a cuddly toy turtle. There's a sense of disquiet, the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Shadows and supernatural incidents compound the "child in dread" vibe, while an observation of articles in the house hint at what has brought the young girl to her situation.

Once the parents arrive on the scene we get further strange occurrences and strange motifs, little hints as to what has happened. Director Akiva Goldsman does a fine job on what is obviously a limited budget, managing to create some quality horror sequences whilst maintaining suspense in a three character piece.

There's a loose end or two that is intriguing but annoyingly so, and a sense of frustration with the resolution has proved to be a divisive topic (isn't it nearly always the case in horror anyway?). However, this is well worth a watch for the horror mystery fan whose prepared to accept it on its own "keeping the wheel" turning terms. 6.5/10